Missteps
by Willow-Bee the Cat
Summary: After Fifth Year, Hermione agrees to go on family vacation with Luna. How it changed from searching for imaginary creatures to attending a tournament Hermione doesn't know. Or, Kakashi and a foreign civilian do something very stupid while inebriated.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I neither own nor make a profit from Naruto or Harry Potter

Rating: T-the rating may go up to M.

Pairing: Hermione/Kakashi

Summary: After Fifth Year ends, Hermione agrees to go on family vacation with Luna. Although how it changed from searching for imaginary creatures to attending some strange tournament Hermione doesn't know. Or, Kakashi and a foreign civilian do something very stupid while inebriated.

Author's Note: I honestly had no intention of putting this up anytime soon. However, thanks to Hurricane Irene I've decided why not? As the Hurricane may or may not strike Long Island with its full power and I've been called for Grand Jury duty in mid-September, I think it'll be a while before I manage to get anything out. Admittedly, I'm more worried about the hurricane than about Jury Duty-hey, I have no objection to doing my civic duty and getting paid for it. And yes, Jury Duty deserves capitol letters, if only because of how many people try to avoid it. I'm more concerned about this whole Grand Jury thing and whether I'll be stuck doing it for a month or more or if I'll get out of it in one day even though I'm not actually trying to get out of it.

* * *

Chapter 1

"I've never seen runes used like that," said Hermione as she stared at the scroll Xenophilius Lovegood held.

"Most don't," said Xenophilius. "It's nearly a lost art to use runes for anything other than wards among the Wizarding. I could teach you how to do it if you want."

"I-yes. Please. Thank you, Mr. Lovegood."

"It's no problem. You're one of my little pumpkin's friends after all."

Hermione smiled at the man sitting across from her at the table. The Hogwarts Express had delivered the students back to London the day before. At first the sixteen year old had been slightly hesitant to take Luna's offer, but after all that had happened at the Department of Mysteries, Hermione had decided to agree to go on the Lovegood family vacation with them.

Even though Hermione thought Luna incredibly strange at times and Luna might think Hermione far too logical, they'd gotten along relatively well since they'd first met. Hermione had been searching desperately for information on what could be in the Chamber of Secrets and Luna had been hiding in the library searching for evidence of the magical creatures which often appeared in the Quibbler. An argument later the duo had been a bit more than acquaintances and a bit less than friends. Their relationship had not changed all that much in the three and a half years since.

"This is a storage rune array," explained Mr. Lovegood. He drew several symbols on a piece of paper. "Luna said you just took your OWLs in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Take a look and analyze it."

"Alright."

Hermione did as ordered, muttering the entire time. Nearly ten minutes later, she pulled a blank piece of paper over and began to do frantic arithmantic equations while Mr. Lovegood looked on approvingly. Luna even looked up from whatever she was painting to watch, a reaction not even Hermione and Mr. Lovgood's epic game of Uno earlier that evening could not elicit.

"It's a spell in rune form," announced Hermione.

Mr. Lovegood smiled. "Very good, Hermione. Runic magic is essentially written magic. It was the main form of using magic until the Ollivander family discovered how to scale staves down into wands twenty five hundred years ago. Staves were really just too large, heavy, obviously magical, and expensive for most witches and wizards to consider using. Runes, on the other hand, can be drawn with just about any substance on any relatively stable surface."

"Wow."

"It is amazing, isn't it? Many of the spells we use today started out as rune arrays. And it's a good thing to know, should you ever be in a situation where you have to defend yourself without a wand."

"Why don't they teach us this sort of thing in class?"

"Honestly?" asked Mr. Lovegood. "Because while it's a useful skill to have, it's also very dangerous if even the slightest mistake or miscalculation is made. It's one of the first things many people learn during apprenticeships-once they're old enough to use runes responsibly. Curse Breakers and Ward Crafters in particular."

"Oh." Hermione looked down. "I don't suppose… Mr. Lovegood, would you be willing to teach me how to use runes?"

"Of course. In this political climate, every witch and wizard should know how to defend themselves without wands. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to teach you during the summer, but I'll try to ensure you know the basics by the time you head back to school. Luna could continue your lessons back at school if you're both willing."

"Thank you so much."

"Alright, go get your trunk. I'll show you how to pack everything into storage scrolls before you go to bed tonight. Don't forget, we have an early morning."

* * *

Hermione bit her lip, and then looked at the mirror. She was unsure about her clothing. She had little in the way of informal Wizarding clothing-most of her clothing was either more formal robes or "hippie chic" clothing which could pass for either normal Wizarding or Muggle clothing-but since Luna was dressed in such, Hermione could only assume she should do the same. At the moment she wore only a full, long sleeved chemise, gathered at the elbows. She loosened the laces at the wrists so that they became bell sleeved.

"Are we going directly to Sweden?" asked Hermione.

"No." Luna passed some clothing to Hermione. "We're not going to Sweden at all. I only said that to ensure that should anybody find out that we're going on vacation, they won't have the first idea of where to look for us. This is more appropriate for the weather and culture."

Hermione could only think she should have expected something like this. She pulled the soft gray sleeveless dress on over her chemise. "So where are we going?"

"Daddy is going to go do some jobs-he works as a Ward Crafter. So we'll be sending the summer with my cousin. And there's going to be some sort of tournament which Daddy got us tickets for. And a festival or two. It should be quite fun."

"What sort of tournament is it?" asked Hermione.

She fastened the pale cream vest about her, pulling the laces tight. She folded a large sky blue scarf with yellow flowers in half into a triangle and tied the long side about her and knotted it so that it hung at her hips. The long tip of the triangle was on her right side, its length reaching just past her knee.

"It's some sort of military thing. I'm not really sure about the specifics, other than only ninja enter."

"Ninja?"

"Oh yes. Ninja."

"I-" Hermione fought the urge to say something perhaps unwise. "Alright."

She pulled on a pair of hiking boots and the put the clothing she'd chosen not to wear into her backpack, effectively hiding the storage scrolls containing the rest of her possessions. Hermione slipped her wand into the wand holster hidden under the vest on the left side. Then she grabbed the backpack.

"I'm ready whenever you and your father are."

"Good. We should head downstairs. Daddy should have the portkeys ready by now."

"Portkeys?" Hermione followed Luna down the stairs.

"We're going to take a portkey to Kyoto, Japan," Mr. Lovegood called out from the kitchen. "From there we take a train into the mountains. Then we have to take a very specific mountain pass to get to what would loosely be translated as the elemental countries. From there, we'll take another portkey which will take us to a nice little cave about a half mile from our destination."

"I-what?"

"I'll explain if further once we're on the path through the pass."

* * *

Hermione had taken careful note of which stop they'd gotten off the train at and each road they'd taken. She might not have an eidetic memory, but once she chose to memorize something, it was rarely, if ever forgotten. It was not that Hermione did not trust Luna and her father, but rather that she preferred to be prepared for worst case scenarios.

Next they took a bus up into a small little grouping of houses which could not quite be called a town halfway up a mountain. Once there, the trio walked went to lunch at what seemed to be the only restaurant in the village.

After lunch, the trio set out up the mountain. They walked along paths and then trails and then what could only be game trails, until Hermione began to wonder if Mr. Lovegood really knew where he was going. And then they came upon a narrow road-no more than two meters in diameter-carved out of the mountain.

"This is it," announced Mr. Lovegood. "I first found this trail in 1967, when I decided to tour the world after graduating from Hogwarts. Come along girls. If we move at a good pace, we can reach the end before nightfall."

Less than ten minutes later, the curiosity got the better of Hermione. "What are the elemental countries?"

"They're the five main countries on the continent this trail leads to." Mr. Lovegood paused, as if considering what to say. "There are many worlds other than our own. This trail leads to one of them. Most of our kind, however, are just not open enough to possibilities to find these paths."

Mr. Lovegood pulled two small wood pendants from a pocket. "One for each of you. These are just in case you run into any danger you can't get yourself out of without revealing you're a witch. The back-the large flat side is an emergency portkey which will take you to one of three places-the end of this trail, the hospital in the village we're going to, and if you've no other choice, one of the main guard houses. The samurai tend to congregate there, I suppose you could say. If you need help, you can always find it there. Press a little blood to it and either think of which you want, or allow the pendant to pick the most appropriate. The bottom front is a combined disillusionment-silencer and the top front is a very strong notice-me-not. The middle front is a distress signal which will alert me and allow me to track you down. Only use it if you're in true danger. To activate any of them, once again, use a drop of blood."

"Thank you Daddy."

"I-thank you," Hermione took the offered pendant.

It was like an oval had been cut in half. Obviously the flat back covered in runes was the portkey. The front was divided into thirds with rune arrays on each section. She hung it about her neck by the leather cord and slipped it under her chemise and undershirt.

The path had to be nearly ten miles long. This distance was not helped by the sheer drop on one side or Luna's enthusiastic skipping.

"So why," Hermione asked, once the end of the trail was in sight. "Did you give us these pendants, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Japan is relatively safe whether you're among the Muggle or Wizarding sectors. The elemental countries are very dangerous, and in the areas between countries and around trade routes they're full of criminals, bandits and the like. Not to mention rouge ninja and samurai. It just wouldn't be safe me to take you girls through these countries without an armed escort. Not to mention that this particular path leads into a country which has been going through a civil war for the better part of the past two decades. So instead we'll head directly to just outside the castle you two will be spending the summer at. My nephew is one of the Daimyo's guards."

"Daimyo?" said Hermione. "You mean a local lord."

"More like emperor of Hi no Kuni, or the Land of Fire. You two should avoid the nobility and the samurai-there is protection in being the daughter or the kinswoman of a master of runes, or a fuinjutsu master as they call me, and in being kin to an accomplished shinobi such as my nephew, but there are some who will ignore that."

"Oh." It was still, Hermione supposed, safer than Hogwarts. There were generally only two or three Muggleborn girls per year and there were some pureblood students who purposefully sought them out to harm them. She could take care of herself, but others were not so capable.

"Ah, that reminds me. Now girls, I'm going to teach you a seal. Why don't we sit down and take a break while I show you."

The small group sat down, dangling their legs over the edge of the path, Mr. Lovegood between Hermione and Luna. He pulled out a piece of parchment and a pencil. Carefully, he drew a circle within a circle. Mr. Lovegood drew seven symbols within the inner circle. Then he drew a scrawling, repeating pattern of three symbols in the space between the inner and outer circle. Outside of the circles, Mr. Lovegood sketched one symbol five times, each an equal distance from the other.

"Can either of you identify what this is meant to do?"

"The outer two rows are a glamour," Hermione announced after several minutes of thought and mental calculations. "An illusion to cover something up."

"Correct, Hermione. It's a glamour to hide the seal by making it indistinguishable from whatever it is applied to. Luna, do you know what's in the inner circle?"

"I'm not sure. I know those symbols put together mean language, but I don't know what the other five would mean. Something to do with the mind-other people's minds…"

"Very good. Most wouldn't even understand that much. Legilimency is not that well know. It's a legilimency based translation charm. It does not truly translate, but rather allows the person it is applied to to learn a foreign language including grammar at an astronomical speed just by listening to people speak it and to read the language in a similar manner. By adding this rune," Mr. Lovegood wrote a single symbol in the center of the array. "I have attuned the array to one specific language: Japanese." He erased the symbol for Japanese. "Personally, I would suggest not specifying which language so that you can learn any language you're exposed to. It could be useful later on in life.

"Within about two days of application of the seal, you should be as fluent as a ten year old child. Within seven days of application of the seal, you should be almost as fluent as native speakers of a similar age to you. I'd suggest spending time in busy places-like markets until relatively fluent. It will expose you to a wider vocabulary."

"How long does the seal last?" asked Hermione. "And I'll go with the non-specific."

"This one? Until somebody removes it or until death. As it is meant to be applied directly to a person's skin, it recharges itself with a minute amount of the person's energy about once a year."

"How minute?"

"You know how much it takes to activate a broom's charms? About an eighth of that." Mr. Lovegood put away the pencil and handed the parchment to Luna before pulling out a small brush and an inkwell. "Roll up your sleeve, Luna. Now, I'm going to apply the seal to both of you."

Less than ten minutes later, the seal had been applied to both Hermione and Luna. Once the seals were completed, Mr. Lovegood began to speak to them in Japanese only, teaching the girls as many new words as possible before their arrival. Apparently Mr. Lovegood was more than passingly familiar with Japanese, which, Hermione supposed made sense. After all, they were going to visit his nephew. Although she could not help but wonder how Luna did not know the language. Perhaps she had not visited the elemental countries before.

By the time they reached the end of the trail, Hermione and Luna had been exposed to enough Japanese that they would be able to hold a basic conversation if need be. From what Hermione managed to gather, the seal worked by analyzing and translating the words when used in proper context.

The only major unanswered question Hermione had about the seal was precisely how the rune attuning it to Japanese worked. Languages were ever changing and evolving things. Surely it would be impossible to categorize a language with a single rune. But Hermione decided to hold her silence and concentrate on learning Japanese. Surely she would have the time to ask Mr. Lovegood about it later.

Once they reached the end of the trail, Mr. Lovegood took them to the spot the emergency portkey would drop them off at, so that they would know where the trail was in relation to the landing point. That done, he portkeyed them across the continent and into a rather large cave system.

Though Hermione felt the urge to explore, she chose to follow Luna and Mr. Lovegood out of the cave system, making a mental note to return at a later time if possible. She loved nature in all its forms. She and her mother had often gone on walks in local parks together.

There was no path that Mr. Lovegood followed. Rather, he looked at the setting sun to get his bearings before leading them though the thick forest.

A little less than ten minutes later they left the forest and stepped into a clearing. Hermione could not help but blink in surprise at the sight of what had to be six or seven story walls. Walls which she had not even known were there until after she'd left the forest. They were about twenty feet from a small gate. Perhaps a side gate. Just above the walls she could see the upper stories of what seemed to be a traditional Japanese castle-at least from what she could remember of her Muggle history class.

Two men in armor stood before the small gate. Not samurai-the armor didn't look right-but perhaps foot soldiers of some sort. Her clothing and Luna's was, Hermione noted, of far, far better quality than the foot soldiers'.

Hermione and Luna hung back slightly as Mr. Lovegood approached the guards. He gave a short bow which was little more than an inclination of his head. "Good evening," said Mr. Lovegood. "I am fuinjutsu master Xenophilius Lovegood, this is my daughter, Luna Lovegood and our cousin, Hermione Granger. We are here to visit with my sister's son, Chiriku, of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve for the summer."

"Your pass please," said the guard to the left with a sword by his side and a spear in hand.

"Our pass," said Mr. Lovegood, handing over a scroll.

The guard looked the pass over, in detail, judging by how long he spent looking at it. The guard pulled a clip board out of the guardhouse and flipped through it. He then handed the scroll back to Mr. Lovegood. "You may enter, Lovegood-sama."

The gate opened to reveal a hall leading to a bustling courtyard. The guard flagged down an elderly woman what Hermione assumed was a relatively simple kimono. The guard quickly explained who they were to the woman, who led them through the hall and the courtyard and into one of the buildings connected to the castle. Once they entered the building, another woman greeted them. Yuki, according to their first guide, was in charge of the servants of the samurai and shinobi barracks. It seemed that the normal soldiers were housed on the other side of the castle.

"The shinobi and their families are housed in the south wing of the barracks, the samurai and their families in the north wing. Visiting shinobi and samurai are housed between," explained Yuki. She led them up an outer staircase and up to the second floor where a railed platform wrapped around the building. "As a member of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve, Chiriku-sama is afforded a family suite. Unless there is an objection, he has arranged for the young ladies to stay in his guest room and you to share a room with him."

"Of course not. I've no problem sharing with the boy."

"Dinner ended half an hour ago. Chiriku-sama anticipated your late arrival and requested dinner to be served when he returns from his duties this evening," continued Yuki, seemingly satisfied by his words. "Chiriku-sama is on duty for another hour. It will be served in the sitting room. Here we are."

Yuki slid open the rice paper door and showed them into a simple room which could double as a sitting room or a dining room with a low table in the center with pillows scattered about. There were several bookcases which held books and scrolls. On one wall, there was a colorful wall hanging depicting a mountain scene. Another held a hanging depicting beautiful calligraphy.

"To the left is the guest room," said Yuki. "Ahead is Chiriku-sama's room. The toilet is behind the building. There is an onsen open to the shinobi and their families. If you wish, you may be shown to it tonight, or tomorrow morning."

"Ma'am," said Hermione. She didn't want to say it in front of Mr. Lovegood, but felt there was no other choice. "I was injured two weeks ago. I'm only permitted to take sponge baths until my stitches are removed."

"I was told you were a civilian, not a kunoichi."

"I am a civilian." Thinking quickly, she explained, "There was an ambush. Several friends and I were set upon by brigands. It was just awful. I don't want to think what would have happened if the army had not rescued us."

"Oh, you poor dear," said the obviously sympathetic woman. "I can have a tub of water sent up daily for your use. We do the same for injured shinobi."

"Thank you," said Hermione. She actually was very grateful. She'd feared it would have been a very unpleasant couple of weeks until that offer had been made.

The two girls retreated to their bedroom for the summer after Yuki left. With a wave of her wand, Luna brushed the dirt of the road off both of them. Only the knowledge that nobody around here cared about underage magic stopped her from saying something. Mr. Lovegood had only insisted that they avoid using magic in front of those who were unaware of it.

"Here, let me show you how to unseal everything," said Luna.

The scrolls were taken out of the backpack and Luna unsealed Hermione's trunk as an example. With a nod to show she'd understood, Hermione unsealed the rest. It wasn't all that much more, only Crookshanks's toys and basket-the cat had walked next to them or been carried in Hermione's arms-and several hard black leather instrument cases. (1)

Hermione had intended to become good enough to join the professional orchestra when she was younger. Even then, she'd been too smart to fool herself into believing she might make it as a professional musician in any other way. She didn't play the modern instruments so often used in rock or metal bands and her voice, while a pleasant alto, simply wasn't good enough or strong enough for her to be the lead singer in a band. It was not attending Hogwarts, but the many misadventures she'd gotten into while at Hogwarts which had put an end to that dream. Assuming she survived the war, she supposed she'd end up working at the Ministry. It was what everybody expected of her.

"I didn't know you were training as a bard."

"I-no-bard?" In that instant, Hermione thought back to everything she knew of bards. "When I was younger, I wanted to join an orchestra, but these days I just play for fun. Most of the songs I know are either folk songs or classical music. Although I did learn a lot of Celestina Warbeck's songs and I've done my best to learn the songs in the books in the library." She'd found it interesting and had taken to studying music from the library during what little free time she had. Though Harry and Ron knew of her interest in music, neither particularly cared and she often practiced while they were busy with Quidditch or chess or some other activity.

"What's an orchestra?"

Hermione spent several minutes explaining as she carefully arranged the instruments where they would be out of the way. She and Luna unpacked their clothing-both had chosen to leave most of their school books and supplies in Luna's home-talking about the various sorts of Muggle music.

"Do you mind if I ask what you play? You have so many instruments."

"Not so many, really," shrugged Hermione. "The violin, of course. It's a very popular instrument and it seems that everybody and their brother learn how to play it." She motioned to the appropriate case. "The cittern-Mum was in a folk band when she attended university and she thought it would be fun to teach me. The recorder-everybody in the school I attended learned how to play a recorder. And the Appalachian dulcimer and the banjo-one of Mum's old band mates left them to me in his will and I just can't let them lay there unplayed. It would be disrespectful to the dead."

"I was under the impression that five instruments was more than most could play," Luna said in her absent way that was just a mask for how curious she truly was.

Hermione shook her head with a laugh. "I know people who can play any of a dozen instruments better than I can play my dulcimer or cittern. And those are my main instruments. Do you think anybody would mind if I practiced? If I go too long without playing I'll loose my skills and start to forget songs."

"I don't think so," pondered Luna. "If nothing else, you can practice in here. And I'm sure there's someplace where the wives and daughters of the shinobi gather. There's no radio so I can't see them objecting to entertainment of some sort." She shrugged. "I was going to draw until supper. I'm sure neither Daddy nor Chiriku-niisan would mind if you practiced."

"Thanks. I'd like that."

After a moment's thought she picked the violin. She hadn't practiced it as much as her other instruments since her orchestral dreams had come crashing down around her, but she did enjoy playing it. And in all fairness, those women Luna had mentioned might expect her to sing as well as play, so she might as well practice the instrument she wasn't skilled enough to play and sing with at the same time without it being awkward.

They went back into the main room where Hermione found a pillow to sit on and opened her violin case. Luna had just set up a leather portfolio and pulled out a clean sheet of paper by the time Hermione finished tuning the violin. Hermione warmed up with a couple scales before moving on to a sonata and then a jazz piece. While they entertained themselves, Xenophilius reviewed the details of the first of several jobs he was to do over the summer. Apparently he was tuning up the wards in the castle before going to someplace called Konohagakure no Sato to check that their wards-which were limited to detecting when and where a trespasser entered due to its size and population-before going to build a complete set of wards for some minor nobleman.

She'd moved on to a jig and then a reel by the time the door to the room opened. Hermione removed the bow from the strings and put the violin down as she examined the men in the doorway. There was a tall bald man who actually looked rather like Xenophilius. Next to him was an even taller, imposing man with long dark hair and a beard. She hung back as Luna ran to hug the bald man with a cry of "Chiriku-niisan."

"Hey Lulu-chan," said Chiriku, gently hugging the girl. He released the girl and turned to face Xenophilius. "It's good to see you again, uncle." He motioned toward his companion. "This is Sarutobi Asuma, one of my fellow members of the Guardians. Asuma-kun, this is my uncle, Xenophilius Lovegood. He's a fuinjutsu master. And this is his daughter, Luna Lovegood." He glanced at Hermione significantly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sarutobi-san. This is Hermione Granger. She's a cousin, on your mother's side and one of Luna's friends."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Hermione said softly.

This was a pre-industrial revolution society and had likely never even heard of feminism. It would be best not to make waves. At least if she didn't want a samurai or a shinobi angry with her. Not to mention what the nobles might do. Among the Wizarding, women had always been afforded rights which were unheard of among Muggles until the twentieth century, but magic was in many ways the great equalizer. Admittedly, most witches viewed the domestic sphere as their proper place, but that was more cultural than legal. While Chiriku was a wizard and would treat both her and Luna properly, who knew how these people here would act.

"You're a musician?" asked Asuma.

"Yes, I am," she agreed. She wouldn't, she admitted, if only to herself, mind becoming a bard when she finished school, but she doubted she'd be able to support herself in that way. Then again, the U.K.'s Wizarding musical society consisted only of the Weird Sisters and Celestina Warbeck. The WWN was rather international, playing music from Wizarding enclaves all over the world. There was room for another professional musician or two. "I'm considering becoming a bard."

"Bard?"

"A musician and poet. Some are patronized by a noble or community and others are wanderers-although female bards are usually supported by their husbands," supplied Xenophilius. He was manipulating the truth a little bit, but Hermione had no intention of correcting the man. "It's a traditional occupation among our people, although historically men have mostly been employed as such."

"I suppose I should put my violin away anyway," said Hermione, loosening the bow before packing it and the violin away in its case.

"What other instruments do you play?" asked Chiriku, kneeling at the table.

"The recorder, the Appalachian dulcimer-which is in the zither family, like the koto, except smaller and with fewer strings-the banjo, and the cittern-the dulcimer and the cittern are my main instruments," she said. She glanced at Luna, desperately asking for help. The last thing Hermione wanted to do was be put on the spot and accidentally reveal something that would cause these people to ostracize her-or worse.

"I'm sure Hermione would be willing to play you something after supper. Daddy says he acquired tickets for Hermione and I to attend the upcoming Chunin Exams," said Luna. "Please, forgive my ignorance, but I'm unfamiliar with the tournament."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and flashed the blonde a smile as Chiriku and Asuma began to explain. And then she found herself blinking. They were going to some sort of tournament where they were supposed to watch teenagers duel. Huh. A little strange, but then again, they'd probably think the Wizarding's professional dueling or Quidditch were just as strange.

* * *

(1) Before anybody says anything, Hermione, like many middle class children learned to play an instrument or two. Unlike most, she actually kept up with her instruments and learned several more than her parents had initially intended. Admittedly, the violin is the only one on the list which regularly appears in orchestras, but the others are just as wonderful. I spent ten years playing the piano and the violin and just about everybody I ever went to school with played an instrument for a year or two, although many still play today, most have dropped their instruments almost entirely. I know a woman who plays close to ten instruments magnificently. Why an Appalachian dulcimer? They're wonderful instruments. As for the banjo? Who doesn't love a banjo? Alright, so I listen to too much Country and I couldn't let Hermione play the guitar, so I gave her the banjo.

I decided to make Hermione a musician because we always see her as either a genius or somebody who's only good at memorizing facts. This time I decided to make her more intelligent than most, but certainly not in the genius range and to give her a hoby that is not shared by Harry and Ron.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: I know I normally wait a week between updates but Irene is heading right for where I live and I don't know how much computer access I'll have in the coming weeks. And yes, I know I'm being overdramatic. However there's a voluntary evacuation of the South Shore of Long Island, which is where I live, so I think I'm allowed to be at least a little dramatic. Anyway, I'll have chapter 3 up either tomorrow or after the hurricane has blown through. As it is, my family is talking about going to stay with my aunt and her family, as they live on the other side of Sunrise Highway-which is aparently a good thing because they're afraid of storm surges and our house is less than two miles from the bay.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

According to Chiriku, most of the samurai and shinobi kept their families at their estates or villages. However there were a handful of kunoichi married to some of the shinobi, a couple of civilian wives, and perhaps two dozen children. Unfortunately, the only females their age were kunoichi which meant that they had duties which took up their time.

For lack of a better idea, Hermione and Luna chose to spend their day in the small garden surrounded on three sides by the samurai and shinobi barracks and on the forth by the castle wall. There were the wives and daughters of several samurai in the garden, though like with the shinobi, most were on their husband's or father's estates.

The duo found a nice spot next to a tree which would be shaded during the heat of the day and set up. Since Xenophilius was busy, they were entertaining themselves. Luna set up paper and paint and began to work on a study of the courtyard. While she did that, Hermione pulled out the cittern and began to play.

The cittern was relatively flat with a round, pear shaped body and long neck. Hers had four courses of two strings, although other citterns had more or less strings in their courses. A course was meant to be played together like a chord. The sound of the cittern was generally higher than a guitar and rather bright and cheerful. Back when the cittern had been popular, it had been used much like the guitar.

"Do you know the Ballad of Aisling Walker?" asked Luna, when Hermione had finished the song she was practicing.

"The one about the witch who traveled from world to world?" said Hermione.

She'd been practicing for half an hour and was finished warming up, thankfully. The Ballad of Aisling Walker was a difficult piece and rather long. Until the day before, she'd thought it was a made up, fanciful tale. Now… now she wasn't so sure.

"That's the one."

"Alright. Now, mind you, I've only played this for my roommates before, so I'm not sure how good it is."

Lavender and Parvati were musicians as well and the three of them on rare occasion played together. Lavender played the harp and Parvati the tambura-an Indian lute. Eloise claimed that the sound of the three of them practicing was nice when she was reading or working on her homework. As for Sally-Anne… Hermione's mind shuddered away from the thought of the fifth member of the Gryffindor girl's dorm in her year. Nobody deserved what had happened to Sally-Anne.

Trying to distract herself from such distressing thoughts, Hermione's fingers danced along the strings as she played the first bars of the Ballad of Aisling Walker. By the time she finished singing the first verse which essentially outlined who Aisling Walker and her family were, there were several children sitting in a semi circle around her. She glanced at Luna who gave her one of those infuriatingly benign, I don't know or have an opinion on anything looks. Ignoring her companion, she raised her voice a little so that all the children could hear when she began the chorus. By the time she'd moved on to the second verse where Aisling stumbled through a cave and into another world entirely, the group of children had grown to include at least ten below the age of five and a further half dozen below the age of ten. Admittedly, the ballad wasn't exactly a children's song, but it was still relatively child friendly. The song was nearly half an hour long, but while the children fidgeted, they didn't wander off.

When the song finished, Hermione gave the children a smile. "Do you want to hear a song about samurai?"

At the nods and 'yes's, Hermione began to play a song about Sir Gawain, one of the knights of the round table. While the stories were more famous and well known among Muggles, among the Wizarding, the songs about King Arthur and his court had been very well recorded. She ended up singing all thirteen songs in the Morgan le Fay and Merlin cycle by the bard and witch, Nimue. The woman had been a contemporary of the infamous enemies. Hermione had to admit, that out of all the books of music she'd found in Hogwarts' library, the one which had contained Nimue's works was her favorite.

"That's it for now, but maybe I'll play some more after lunch or tomorrow morning," Hermione told the children as she packed her cittern away. "Now, I'm sure your mothers are looking for you."

At that, most of the children left, save a group of three who looked to be around the age of a first of second year student at Hogwarts. There was a girl with long brown hair tied back in a braid and red triangles on her cheeks dressed in clothing that was surprisingly modern in appearance. There were three puppies arrayed about the girl, though Hermione had to wonder why the dogs hadn't wandered off yet-they looked rather young-at least until she noticed that Crookshanks was playing with the puppies. Next to her were two dark haired, dark eyed boys. One was dressed in blues with a fan embroidered in his clothing, the other in khaki shorts and a cream colored shirt. All three, she noted, wore a metal plate with a stylized leaf tied around some part of their body.

"Hello. Can I help you?" she asked.

"Is your cat a nin cat?" asked the boy in tan.

"I thought only Uchiha had nin cats," said the girl.

"Slow down. Crooksie is just a cat-kneazle hybrid," corrected Hermione. This world was so much more in touch with the supernatural, they would understand. Both Xenophilius and Luna had told her to keep their ability to use magic quiet, but to otherwise be open about the supernatural and her knowledge there of. "A kneazle is a type of magical creature that… so far as I know isn't native to the elemental countries."

"What's a kneazle like?" asked the boy in blue.

"Well, they look almost identical to a house cat except that they have a tail like a lion. They're very loyal, but you can't just take one as a pet. The kneazle picks their own human, not the other way around. They're more intelligent than any cat could ever hope to be. A kneazle can almost always lead their human home and they know who is and isn't trustworthy. They can interbreed with normal house cats for generations and still stay true to their kneazle nature. In fact, nobody knows how many generations it would take for the kneazle's nature to disappear from a line. Let's see… did I forget anything?"

"They easily live as long as any human," supplied Luna.

"Thanks Lu. I knew I forgot something. And Crooksie here just loves dogs and puppies. Gets along with them great-almost better than his fellow cats."

The girl blinked, sniffing the air. "You smell like-"

"I know," Hermione cut the girl off. Now that she'd taken the time to notice, the girl had fangs and it seemed, enhanced senses. Unfortunately for her, the girl probably smelt her animagus form and Hermione was rather sure that qualified under things she shouldn't speak about. "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you and I don't think anybody here wants that." At the way the trio tensed, Hermione had a feeling they'd taken her words more seriously than she'd intended. With a sigh, she said, "I wouldn't really have to kill you. But I'm not permitted to speak of my clan's secrets to somebody unless I'm related to them by blood or I'm married to them and if I told any of you three I'd have to have my cousin Chiriku-kun erase your memories or I'd face punishment from my clan. Blabbing like that is cause for banishment, at the very least, imprisonment if the indiscretion is particularly bad. We take our secrecy very seriously."

"Sensible," agreed the boy in blue.

"You would think that," grumbled the other boy.

"So, I'm Hermione Granger and this is my cousin, Luna Lovegood."

"I'm Inuzuka Hana and those're my teammates; Uchiha Ran and Mozuku, Hermione-san."

"Uh, honey, we have different naming customs among our clan," she said. "My given name is Hermione and my family name-the name of my branch-is Granger. I don't mind if you call me Hermione-it's not like I'm all that much older than you three-but only if that's how you want to refer to me."

"Are you three in the Chunin exams? Mione and I have tickets for the tournament," said Luna.

"Yep," said Hana as Mozuku nodded proudly and Ran smirked.

"Wow, that's impressive," said Luna. "I wonder… do you think that the villages only really allow these international Chunin Exams because they want to see the skills of their enemies and allies?"

"Uh, no offense meant, but shouldn't you three be training for the exam?"

"They took a break from training to take a short mission," announced a man in his mid twenties. He had a senbon in his mouth and his hair was covered by a bandana with a matching metal leaf plate. "It's time to head back to the village."

"Genma-sensei," they grumbled.

"Listen to your sensei," Hermione scolded. "And Lu and I will cheer for you three at the tournament, alright?"

"Although in all fairness, you're the only ones we can cheer for," said Luna. "We haven't met any of the others."

"Well Crooksie likes you, so I think that's reason enough to cheer you three on. He's a very good judge of character; saved my life more times than I care to admit."

The trio said their goodbyes and were ushered out of the garden by their teacher.

Luna waited until the trio were gone before turning to Hermione. "Did she smell your animagus form?"

"Yeah. You don't think I was too harsh on them, do you?"

"Oh no. If there's anything shinobi understand, it's clan secrets."

"Huh. I suppose we should go get some lunch."

"Are you a hawk animagus? You look like a hawk to me."

Hermione let out a snort of laughter. "No. And don't even think about bribing Hana to find out what sort I am."

"If I guess, will you tell me?"

"Sure."

* * *

Absently, Hermione's pencil scratched along the piece of paper, writing out another line. While she had the basic idea of a tune, at the moment she was more interested in creating the lyrics. Hermione wasn't sure if her song would every see the light of day, but she wanted to record it. Maybe she could put it in her will for it only to be released to the public when she, Harry, and Ron were all dead. History was written and manipulated by the winners, and Hermione wanted to be sure that there would at least be one relatively accurate version of events.

The poem she was working on chronicled her time at Hogwarts from when she learned she was a witch up until Harry and Ron rescued her from the troll. Admittedly, everything up until Ron insulting her after charms class was contained in a single verse, but Hermione had chosen to write it that way. Perhaps she'd be willing to write a more detailed description of what it felt like to learn she was a witch, but this wasn't the song for that. It would be a mournful song of crushed hopes and dreams. Perhaps she would write a song like that after all. Just not until after she finished the first draft of her song about the troll and had decided on what key the music would be written in.

Absently, Hermione strummed a couple chords on the cittern in her arms before jotting down the notes she'd played. It would be good for the chorus. Maybe she'd use the banjo or the violin for her song about a Muggleborn's experiences. They were both traditional Country and Bluegrass instruments and in all fairness, such a song would be well within both genres. Perhaps a series of Country or Bluegrass songs. Maybe even make it a violin and banjo duet.

She glanced up as Luna sat down across from her, putting the paper she intended to work on on the table between them. "Are you composing a song?"

"Yes. I'm not sure how well it's going, but it's going."

"May I?"

"I-" Hermione shook her head. "This song, this song will only be made available to the public if Harry and Ron give their permission or if all three of us are dead. I'll show it to you, but you must swear to speak of it only to me, and only when we're along until either of the events I've mentioned have passed."

"You have my word. But do you really believe I'll outlive you?"

"I know you will." She gave Luna a shake of the head. "I've been living on borrowed time since I was two. This war is going to get bad. And the only reasonable option I have is to stand and fight. I'm not going to run and I'm not going to hide. I'd only endanger others by doing either."

"You've survived more than any of our classmates have."

"Barely. Look, I've already come to terms with the knowledge that I probably won't live to see twenty. It's… there's a lot I want to do with my life, and I can deal with the knowledge that I probably won't get to do most of them." She'd already decided that if she survived the war, she'd become a bard, expectations be damned.

Luna took her hand and turned it over, so she could see the palm. "You have a long lifeline. You won't die young."

Hermione gave her a bitter smile, understanding the girl was trying to reassure her. "Luna, you don't need to do that. But I appreciate the effort."

She slid the scroll over, allowing the other girl to read the lyrics.

* * *

"Pay attention to the feeling of the wards," ordered Xenophilius. "You should notice them when we pass through the gates."

The girls nodded their understanding. It had been nearly three weeks since their arrival in the elemental countries. Nothing of any real note had happened during their time at the castle a couple miles from Konohagakure no Sato. Hermione had spent her mornings playing and singing, generally for the children of the samurai and shinobi at the castle and her afternoons composing songs. On one memorable occasion she, along with the local wives and daughters of several shinobi had presented an evening of musical entertainment for the shinobi in the service of the daimyo and those visiting. She'd even managed to acquire an invitation for herself to play at one of the Akimichi tea houses for what Chiriku had assured her was a very good hourly salary. Apparently an exotic musician would be quite the draw during the week before and after the Chunin Exams. Chiriku had taken the time to be assured by some man named Akimichi Chouza that Hermione would be treated with respect before he permitted Hermione to give her answer.

She and Luna had actually grown closer since her admittance that she believed she would die young. It probably helped that Hermione had challenged Luna about the existence of one of the many mythical creatures only to have a talking monkey say that Luna's creature was real. Likewise, the duo had spent many long hours learning about rune arrays from Luna's father.

It had been decided that they would stay in Konoha while Xenophilius worked on the village wards and then return to the castle with Chiriku. Xenophilius thought it safer to leave her and Luna in Chiriku's care than to take them with him to work on a set of wards for a nobleman up to the north. Hermione didn't know the specifics, but from what she understood, the man had something of a reputation with women and Xenophilius didn't want to expose Luna or Hermione to him.

"How long do you think this will take?" asked Hermione as she absently rubbed Hedwig along the neck. The owl had arrived about half a mile back and Hermione had taken the letter from her, though she'd requested Hedwig remain with them. She wouldn't have the time to read the letter, let along reply until they were inside Konoha and settled in their hotel room.

"The line is moving relatively quickly," commented Luna, cuddling Crookshanks in her arms and petting the cat affectionately.

"That's one large group ahead of us," said Xenophilius. "We're next."

"Say, how many of… our clan are there in the elemental countries, anyway?"

"There is the Utatane Clan in Konoha itself," explained Xenophilius. "Akimichi-san's wife is a daughter of the clan. It's why Chiriku-kun and I allowed you to take that job with the Akimichi. They understand that you're strictly a musician and not another sort of entertainer entirely. I think there might be one of two other branches in the village, but nowhere near so large as the Utatane. There are maybe two more in this country who are samurai clans and a dozen others who have chosen the civilian life. The other countries had roughly the equivalent population of our clan."

"Next," said one of the guards.

Like when they arrived at the castle, identification was offered and checked. Though she noticed that they gave Xenophilius looks of cautious awe. Apparently a fuinjutsu master was more important than she'd originally thought.

They ended up walking down the main street and down a side street several blocks before the main market to a hotel. The group was shown to a room on the second floor where they proceeded to unpack and settle in. Hermione had just broken the seal on the letter when there was a knock on the door.

Xenophilius opened the door to reveal a figure with gravity defying gray hair in a black, spandex light material and lighter armor with a white and red painted canine mask.

"One moment please, Wolf-san," said Xenophilius. He turned back to Hermione and Luna. "Here. This should be enough for lunch and dinner and some shopping. Stay on the main streets and if you get lost or into trouble, talk to one of the shinobi or the military police. And if I'm not back by then, you two are to be back in the room by sunset."

"Yes Daddy," said Luna as Hermione gave a quick nod.

"Thank you, sir."

"Have a good time."

With that, Xenophilius walked out the door with the man he'd referred to as wolf, closing the door behind him.

"Why don't you reply to your letter first and then we'll find lunch," said Luna.

Hermione nodded. "You can write a letter too if you want. I'm sure Harry would love to hear from you."

She read the letter, noting that Harry had inherited everything from Sirius and had been sent to stay with the Weasleys about a week and a half earlier. There was also something about Dumbledore using Harry to convince some strange man to work at Hogwarts as a Professor, but it was all a little unclear. Carefully censoring herself, she wrote to Harry that she was vacationing with the Lovegoods with Luna's permission. There'd been a change of plans and they'd ended up visiting Luna's cousin rather than going to Sweden. About half an hour and four pages of writing later, Hermione carefully folded and sealed the letter with a dollop of wax. When Luna was done, she tied both letters to Hedwig's leg and sent the owl off through the window.

The duo left the hotel room, Crookshanks trailing behind them. She and Luna had talked about it, and they'd decided that since Hermione was to start working for the Akimichi the next morning after breakfast, they'd play the part of tourists that day.

They slipped into the hustle and bustle of the market easily enough, though their clothing marked them as foreigners. There were hundreds of foreigners wandering the village and they didn't stand out too much.

"This way," said Luna, pulling her to a stand that sold hair ornaments.

"These are beautiful," agreed Hermione.

Hermione picked out a lacquered and painted hair comb and matching hair stick while Luna picked out a hair stick with dangling metal pieces on one end. Then the duo found a ramen stand and had lunch. They wandered the market for hours, mostly window shopping, though they bought the occasional souvenir. Hermione found a couple bolts of cloth and some skeins of delicate, thin yarn for a relatively cheap price while Luna found several paintings and some prints that she just loved.

After supper, the duo gave in to temptation and went to a bookstore. They browsed for a while, each going in their own direction. After finding an interesting book of history, Hermione went to find Luna, only to get side tracked by a prominent display of books. Books which were apparently meant for adult audiences only. She paused, and then gave into curiosity, picking up the first volume of Icha Icha Paradise. She flipped the book over and read the summary before opening it and reading the first page to see if she enjoyed the author's style.

"Hermione?"

"Oh, hello Luna. I was just coming to find you," said Hermione, closing the book. She thought she'd buy it after all. It looked rather entertaining.

"Find anything interesting?" asked Luna, giving the display an absent look.

"Oh hush. Like that could possibly be any worse than Muggle romance novels."

Luna giggled and shook her head. "We should leave before you start espousing the benefits of porn."

"I never said anything about porn," protested Hermione. "Honestly, one little rant, and the Sewing Circle will never let me forget."

Luna burst into full belly laughter at that. The Hogwarts Sewing Circle was a girls' only club open to all years that met once a month. Hermione attended more because it was expected than anything else. She enjoyed knitting more than sewing anyway. Although she did know how to hand sew her own clothing and had enjoyed learning the sewing spells. About a year earlier she had listened to one 'lie back and think of England' conversation from the seventh year girls too many and had given the entire group quite the rant about the female orgasm and the clitoris, which had stunned all the attendees into horrified silence. Admittedly, Hermione was a virgin, but her mother had ensured she knew everything a modern woman should and she and Viktor had certainly visited the realm of heavy petting on more than one occasion.

The duo made their way to the front where they bought their books. The proprietor had sniffed disparagingly at Hermione for her choice in book, but had otherwise had no reaction. Perhaps it would be best not to visit this particular bookstore again.

When the duo arrived back at the hotel room, Hermione set out her bolt of indigo wool. Apparently it was commonly used for more pedestrian clothing, but Hermione would not let that stop her. She unsealed her sewing box and portable manikin that could adjust to the size of any human female given to her as a group gift from her roommates a year prior and began.

While Luna pulled out her own cloth and began to embroider, Hermione carefully cut and pinned the cloth. By the time she was done, the cloth would be a seemingly simple masterpiece. Alright, so maybe not a masterpiece, she could not fool herself into thinking she was so skilled. But Hermione fully intended to make a beautiful dress.

It began with a turtle neck of gathered and smocked cloth that radiated outward in a circle, the smocking ending at the end of the shoulders on either side and a good eight or nine inches down in the front and back. The tailoring was minimal, relying on smocking to give the dress shape. It was empire waisted, the smocking beginning just under the bust and going down two inches before allowing the skirt to fall to the ankles unimpeded. The sleeves were long and full, gathered at each wrist with an inch and a half of cloth after the smocking that formed a ruffle which would cover the upper parts of the hands. She even had enough indigo cloth left over to make a veil. When it was done, it would be the perfect winter outfit.

Once everything was pinned in place, Hermione carefully removed it from the manikin. Then she set out a needle and matching indigo thread. She waved her wand and stepped out of the way a moment before the needle threaded itself and began to sew the seams of the dress shut before moving on to the smocking, and finally the hems.

"I love that spell," commented Hermione.

And she did. Although some of the girls in the Sewing Circle preferred to hand sew their projects, most spent the meetings designing new dresses and setting needles to sew them with magic. When the dress was done, she set the needle to sewing the hems of the veil up.

Luna shook her head, not bothering to look up from her new book. "What are you wearing to the Chunin Exams?"

She shrugged. "I don't know yet."

She put away the book and motioned to a roll of ocean blue silk ribbon, a bolt of slightly lighter blue linen, and a bolt of golden yellow silk crepe. "These would make pretty dress robes."

"What are you thinking?" Though Luna might dress like she picked her accessories in the dark, she had surprisingly good taste.

"Use the linen to make a square necked kirtle. The silk crepe to make a bell sleeved houppelande with a deep v-neck along with the ribbon along the neck and as trim for the belt. Make a, oval veil of the extra linen. Wear it with a turret hat made of the extra silk crepe and leave your hair loose. Don't you have a gold necklace with dangling amber leaves? That would go perfectly with the dress."

"That does sound lovely," agreed Hermione. "What are you wearing?"

Luna pulled out a beautiful set of rose pink, embroidered robes from her trunk. "This. It belonged to my mother originally."

"They're beautiful," agreed Hermione.

* * *

Hermione moved the handle of the leather case to her left hand before reaching with her right to knock on the door. She'd been instructed to come through the back entrance as it would be easier for all those involved.

A moment later the door opened to reveal a pretty woman in what had to be her sixth or seventh month of pregnancy. "Granger-san?"

"Yes ma'am," she said.

"Good. You're half an hour early. I'm Akimichi Natsumi, you've already met my husband, Chouza," she said, "Please, come in."

"Thank you, Akimichi-san." She paused, biting her lip unsurely. "Am I dressed appropriately? I have a more formal and a less formal set of clothing in my bag for just in case."

"If you could add a piece of jewelry or some kanzashi, you would look perfect," decided Natsumi after giving the girl a once over.

"Ah."

She took off her bag and found the appropriate inner pocket, pulling out a necklace with three silver chains studded with pearls that went well with her gray, sleeveless robe. She carefully inserted either side of the end of the necklace into the bun which confined the top of her hair under her veil with some wandless charms to keep it in place so the necklace formed a series of three bands that almost gave the effect of a circlet. The rest of her hair had been permitted to fall freely in ringlets to her waist, covered by a simple purple veil that matched her kirtle.

"Much better," agreed Natsumi.

"Do you have any preferences for what sort of music I play?" she asked.

"Unless they ask you to play something, stick with what Chouza said you called uh… jazz, classical, or folk music. Singing is acceptable, but nothing too loud or fast."

"No problem," she agreed. "I brought my dulcimer and my violin. But I have other instruments I can bring tomorrow, if you want."

They spoke about the sorts of people who would be coming in to the tea house and how to deal with any unwanted attention from noblemen or shinobi until it was time for her to begin.

She carried out the cases which contained her violin and her dulcimer and gracefully made her way between the scattered low tables to a pillow that had been set out for her next to a small low table-according to Natsumi, she received free tea as a courtesy. She set down the cases and then positioned her skirts so that they fanned our around her when she sat on the pillow, tucking her legs to the side. She wouldn't be able to kneel for hours at a time on her legs and she knew it.

This was it. This was her first paying gig as a musician and she intended to make the most of it. She opened the violin case and made a show of tuning the instrument before tightening the bow and rosining it. The she began to play a piece by Mozart, just loud enough for people all over the tea house to hear without being overpowering. She and Natsumi had spoken about it and agreed that she would switch between instrumentals with her violin and folk songs which involved singing with her dulcimer every hour or so.

Though most of her attention was on her playing, she kept an eye on the crowd to make sure that people enjoyed what she was playing and adjusting the music she played as needed. The shinobi-which were apparently the men and women with the metal plates with various symbols on them-seemed to prefer jazz while the nobles preferred classical. She switched to the dulcimer around noon when the tea house cleared out and began with English folk songs, the lyrics changed to Japanese. This, she noticed, both nobles and shinobi enjoyed, although she'd overheard a couple nobles talking about how quaint the music of peasants was. Thankfully that group had left relatively quickly.

At one, Luna stepped into the tea house carrying her portfolio. She sat herself at the table which held Hermione's cup of tea and waited patiently for Hermione to finish her song before the duo went back into the kitchen to eat lunch. They spent Hermione's lunch break looking at Luna's drawings and laughing over some of the things Luna described seeing. After lunch, Hermione headed back out to her place and began to play once more.

She blinked and then gave a smile when a new group of shinobi walked in, showing no other reaction. Asuma was with a pretty, black haired kunoichi, a ninja in green spandex who looked disturbingly like Bruce Lee, and a man she was relatively sure was really Wolf, from the afternoon before. He wore the uniform she was beginning to associate with Konoha and a half mask while his headband covered one eye, but Hermione recognized the hair.

The group spoke to one of the serving girls for several minutes who nodded and then laughed before walking into the back. Wolf-Hermione wasn't sure what his real name was, be presumed that Wolf was a code name of some sort given that he'd worn that porcelain mask the day before-stood and walked over to Hermione. She was used to this by now and knew to expect either a request or an attempt at flirting, so she drew her song to a close and put down the violin.

"Aiko-chan said you take requests," said the man. At her nod, he continued, "Could you play a song which tells a story?"

Hermione nodded. "What sort of story do you want?"

"Oh, the usual. Something with adventure, romance, drama…" The man seemed absolutely bored with everything going on around him and slouched in a way that should have been unbecoming of a shinobi.

She giggled, "You might as well ask me to perform a musical."

"A musical?" he asked, seemingly intrigued.

"I don't know what they call it in Hi no Kuni, but back home, a musical is a play where the story is told through singing and dancing."

"Maa, maa, nothing so long. Alas, I cannot spend all day listening to your dulcet voice."

"Oh, don't even try it," she laughed. "I know false flattery when I hear it. But I will still sing you a song," Hermione declared. "A song of the most fearsome of women a person ever had misfortune to meet; Mab the Black."

He inclined his head in acknowledgement before meandering back to his table. With a shake of the head, Hermione pulled out the case of her dulcimer and opened it. Queen Mab, as she was known to the Muggles was considered a terrifying faerie no sane person wanted contact with. Among the Wizarding, Mab the Black was one of the most quixotic figures of history from the seventh century. The House of Black had always taken great pride in using a variant of the word Black for their surname, in honor of the founder of their line and their most illustrious of ancestors; Mab. The woman had been both reviled and loved by the Wizarding of the UK depending upon the political leanings of the time. At the moment, only "dark" witches and wizards considered her a romantic heroine, but Hermione absolutely adored the songs and legends about the woman. Not that she had opportunity to sing or practice them in front of others all that often.


	3. Chapter 3

The chapter you've all been waiting for. Most of this chapter was written while watching the news about Irene. As my aunt's house is where the eye of the storm is probably going to go through, it was decided that we would remain in our respective homes. Anyway, I'm not sure how it'll go, but I guess we'll know in the morning. At the very least, I know of three different neighbors and their families who are staying as well. So that's something of a safety net.

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

Hermione found that she enjoyed working for the Akimichis, though she could do without the noblemen who tried to seduce her. She wasn't even that pretty, and she knew it. By this point, she supposed it was the idea of having what no other man could.

At least the shinobi and kunoichi were more respectful. Apparently, as she was the "cousin" of an active shinobi, and a fuinjutsu master she was considered one of them, if only as a civilian of a shinobi clan. Hermione didn't have the heart to explain that she was so distantly related to the Lovegoods that it wasn't worth mentioning. They even considered her interest in music appropriate, as many kunoichi learned to sing, dance, and play an instrument or two in their line of work.

She let out a happy hum as she followed Luna through the market. During the past week her and Luna's evenings had been spent learning the art of making rune arrays from Xenophilius-although in all fairness Luna was studying concepts far more complex than Hermione was at the moment. Her days were spent playing at the tea house, with the exception of her daily lunch break with Luna. Before breakfast and after Xenophilius's little tutorials, Hermione read her new books-she was enjoying Icha Icha Paradise in particular and had already bought the other two books in the series and found several other books by the same author to read when she returned to England.

This day and the day after were her days off from the Akimichi's tea house, as the Chunin Exams began in an hour and Natsumi had declared that Hermione should have the luxury of sleeping in after such a big event and visiting the festival the next day. Hermione was surprisingly happy with this arrangement. If she lived to become a bard, she was going to arrange her gigs so that she had either mornings or evenings, along with at least two days a week off.

Eventually the duo made their way into the stadium and found their seats. She pulled out her knitting needles and a skein of yarn and began to cast on stitches for a shawl.

"I wonder if this is going to be any bloodier than the dueling tournaments," said Luna, pulling out her crocheting.

"I don't know. I suppose it depends on if they intend to kill their opponents or not," said Hermione. "Although I do hope it's not. Dying in an event like this seems a bit… a bit of a waste."

"Mm," Luna agreed.

They watched the crowd gather, occasionally commenting on this or that. Both agreed that the noblewomen looked ridiculous wearing five or more layers of kimono over a shit and skirt in the middle of summer. They, at least, had chosen to wear only two layers, excluding bras and panties which so far as they were concerned didn't count.

About half an hour after they arrived the tournament began. The teens competing were absolutely vicious, but no worse than the European professional and amateur dueling circuits. She and Luna made sure to cheer loudly for the team they'd met at the castle during their fights, but otherwise just watched. Ran and Hana managed to make it to the second round, though Mozuku lost his first fight and Ran suffered a double knock out in the third. In the end, Hana was the only person they knew in the final round and the duo cheered themselves hoarse for the girl.

They tucked away their needlework and headed out, intent to enjoy the festival. They played games and ate the local food and went to some sort of drum performance before going back to the hotel room.

The next day was much of the same, although Hermione ended up bringing her banjo and setting up on a park bench to play and sing the Wizarding version of Beowulf while Luna braided flower crowns which she put on her own and Hermione's unveiled heads before sitting down to do a drawing. As she was neither working nor at a special event, Hermione had decided to forgo wearing a veil for the day, although she was dressed in a cotehardie with a girdle about her waist.

This, it seemed, was liked even more than the folk songs she usually chose. Already there was a crowd of nobles, shinobi, and civilians along with groups of children. With a mental shrug she did her best to keep faithful to the story, which was a little difficult as she was translating as she went and occasionally had to make split second decisions about which word to use without the benefit of a thesaurus. Nearly three hours after she began, the song was thankfully over. Hermione loved it, but playing for three straight hours without any breaks was a bit much.

She slipped the cittern back into the case when the crowd dispersed and turned to Luna. "Ready for supper?"

"Ramen stand?"

Hermione nodded and the duo set out for the little ramen stand they'd discovered several days prior. Ichiraku's had to be the best ramen stand in the village by far, although it was smaller than its main competitor. The found a free space at the stand happily enough, Crookshanks curling up between her stool.

"Two shrimp ramen please," said Luna before turning to Hermione.

"I'll start with two beef ramen, please," said Hermione. One of the downsides of their Wizarding nature was that their metabolisms were far faster than a normal human's and they had to eat at least twice as much.

"Coming up," said the proprietor.

"So, what near death experience will you go through this year?" asked Luna.

"I'd object, but I'm beginning to think it's a yearly event as well," sighed Hermione. "I don't know. I had to cancel my Daily Prophet subscription, so I don't really know what old Tommy-boy's minions may or may not be doing."

"Have you set up wards for your family home?"

"Yeah. Professor McGonagall helped me set them up last summer." Technically the truth, but nowhere near complete. Not that she intended to tell Luna that.

They ended up eating four bowls of ramen apiece before heading out to explore the festival again. The sun was just beginning to set when they started to head back to the hotel. And then Hermione realized one little problem.

"Lu, why don't you go ahead of me?"

"Mione-"

"I forgot to get Harry something for his birthday. I saw a stand a couple blocks back that should have something that'll work, but I don't think it'll be there tomorrow."

"I'll take your banjo back with me. And hurry. You know Daddy doesn't want us out too long after dark."

She nodded and passed the instrument over to her friend. "Thanks. If I'm not back in an hour, call the cavalry or something."

"See you soon."

With that Hermione turned back to the festival. She walked quickly, Crookshanks by her side. It took her a couple minutes but she managed to find the stand. After five minutes of haggling, she got a new folding knife for Harry. She knew that he regretted having his penknife from Sirius melt to slag and she could easily carve the needed runes into the blade and handle before she sent it to him.

She turned from the stand only to stop short. Before her was Hideki, one of several samurai who'd frequented the tea shop. He had made a game of teasing her and had invited her to supper on more than one occasion, despite her making it clear she was uninterested in his attention.

"What good fortune to bump into you, Hermione-chan," he said.

"I'd thank you not to be so familiar with me," she said, searching for any of the shinobi she knew out of the corner of her eye. "If you'll excuse me, my cousins are expecting me and I wouldn't want to worry them."

"The night is still young-"

"Be that as it may, I have a curfew and I cannot break it."

"There you are, Granger-san. Lovegood-san was worried," said a deep male voice Hermione was relatively sure she'd heard before.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to make him worry or for him to send out a search party," said Hermione, trying not to show her surprise. She gave the gray haired man she knew only as Wolf a relieved smile and mouthed "thank you" once her back was turned to Hideki. Crookshanks, she noted, was winding his way around Wolf's legs affectionately. "Well, I must be going."

Hermione allowed the shinobi to escort her out of the market and back to the hotel silently. At the entrance, she turned to ask if he'd really been sent by Xenophilius, only to realize that Wolf had disappeared. With a mental shrug she headed into the building.

* * *

Two days before they were supposed to return to the castle, Hermione found herself at loose ends. Her job with the Akimichis was over and she'd already explored the parts of Konoha she could visit as a civilian. Normally, she'd have been content to strum out a tune or two and hang around with Luna, but after several hours of doing so, she was nearly at wit's end. She couldn't just do nothing. Not now, not today.

Around five, she gave in to temptation and found a bar she felt relatively comfortable in. It wasn't quite a shinobi bar, but there were certainly more shinobi than civilians and not a samurai or noble in sight. She settled at the bar in the corner opposite the entrance where she could have her back to the wall and ordered a beer and some finger foods. Hermione was no lightweight-Gryffindors threw the best parties and the Weasley twins could always be counted upon to supply alcohol-but she wasn't going to start drinking on an empty stomach.

About an hour and two beers later, a large figure sat down beside her. She glanced over long enough to see that Wolf was next to her along with the green spandex clad Bruce Lee wannabe and several other men, including the man she faintly remembered as Hana, Ran, and Mozuku's sensei; Genma. She ignored them, concentrating on her beer. The bar had filled up and the seats next to her had been the only free ones in sight. Him sitting there meant nothing, even if she was beginning to wonder if he was following her.

She listened absently as they talked about Genma's team, of which only Hana had been promoted, as Mozuku's showing had been rather unimpressive and Ran had continued to fight when he should have either forfeited or tried another tactic. Apparently having even one student be promoted was a good thing and the other men were congratulating him. And the Bruce Lee in spandex was waxing poetic about something, but Hermione wasn't really sure what, other than it involved springtime, youth, and something about the genius of hard work.

Hermione managed to tune her companions out and plow her way through a rather substantial supper and two more beers over the course of her second hour in the bar. Well, mostly tune them out. And then a boy a little older than her that she was relatively sure was called Tenzou began to speak about fuinjutsu.

Unable to hide her interest, Hermione found herself looking to her right at the piece of paper with a seal on it that Tenzou had produced. Wolf, she noted, quirked his visible eyebrow at her before leaning so that she had a better view.

"That's wrong," she announced, before she could quite manage to stop herself. She was teetering on the edge of tipsy, and unfortunately her mouth had gotten away from her, as it was wont to do when she drank.

Like a switch was flipped, the easy atmosphere was replaced by one of suspicion as all the men in Wolf's group turned to look at her. She found herself blushing and had to fight the urge to duck her head.

"What's wrong, miss…?" asked Tenzou.

"Granger. Hermione Granger-there are different naming customs where I'm from," she explained before anybody had a chance to make a mistake with her name. "Granger is the name of the branch of my clan I belong to and Hermione is my given name." She cleared her throat. "And your seal is wrong. You said the person you bought it from said that it was a shield jutsu, and it is. But whoever it was who made it didn't think things through. Yes, it'll create a chakra shield, but it doesn't account for air completely and whoever's inside the shield is limited by how long it'll take them to asphyxiate. It looks like they left a space to add a sub-array that would change carbon dioxide to oxygen there, but they forgot. Which means you're screwed. Unless you can grow trees or something, but I don't see that happening."

The men laughed off her statement, but something in their manner seemed off. Hermione wasn't sure what it was, but something she'd said had touched on a sensitive topic. Wolf, she noted, had pulled out a familiar orange book and had affected what she was relatively sure was his usual lazy manner.

"I apologize if I overstepped my bounds," Hermione said quickly. "I tend to speak more than I should when I drink."

"Maa, maa, it's fine," said Wolf, waving off her words.

Beside him, Tenzou and Genma, along with a man she thought might be named Raidou stood and said their goodbyes. She waited until the men left before she turned to Wolf and Bruce Lee.

"I'm sorry for chasing off your friends. I didn't mean to."

"No man would run from one as beauteous as you, my dear," said the spandex clad man. "Ah, a booth has opened up; perhaps you would care to join us, Granger-san?"

Hermione shrugged. "Alright. It's better than drinking alone. Although I'd appreciate it if you toned down the flattery a bit."

They grabbed their drinks and took the booth moments before another person reached it. The purple haired woman pouted at them before going over to the bar. Somehow Hermione found herself next to the Bruce Lee wannabe on the inside and across from Wolf, whose real name she still didn't know. Was she to forever call him Wolf?

"I, am Konoha's Sublime Green Beast, Maito Gai," he said in introduction.

"A pleasure to meet you, Maito-san." She paused, then asked, "Does the village perhaps have regular psychological evaluations of its shinobi?"

Wolf gave her what almost looked like a happy eye crease-and really, how could his face be so expressive when only a quarter of it was visible?-and said, "All active duty shinobi are required to visit a counselor once a year or more often if their commanding officer or their doctor recommends it."

"Ah, good. That's… that's probably a very good thing."

In reply, Kakashi giggled a bit. Hermione pouted into her beer until she realized he was laughing at something in the book.

"You reach the part where Junko pretended to be a maid yet?" said Hermione.

"You read Icha Icha?" he said.

Hermione blushed and nodded. "Considering the books were written by a man, they're surprisingly true to the female mind and experience. Although don't spoil it for me. I just started on the third volume."

"How unyouthful," commented Gai.

Hermione shrugged. "More books for us, then."

"You're a musician who spends her free time studying fuinjutsu?" said Wolf.

She shrugged. "Actually, I just finished my fifth year of a seven year apprenticeship within my clan. But I intend to become a musician when I finish my apprenticeship."

"What's wrong?"

The Bruce Lee wannabe was surprisingly perceptive. She shrugged and shook her head, almost curling in on herself. She motioned at the waitress and ordered sake. There went her attempt to distract herself from her troubles. Wolf and Gai seemed to shrug and do the same, ordering sake as well.

She waited until after she took several sips of sake to speak again. Wolf and Gai had spoken silently through hand motions and body movements the entire time, though Hermione had had the courtesy to ignore them.

Finally, she asked, "How do you deal with knowing you could die at any time?"

"Another civil war?" asked Gai.

"I-how?" she stuttered.

"Gai and I are familiar with the British Wizarding Enclave," commented Wolf, who then proceeded to take a sip of his sake.

"Out great great great grandparents left the British Empire in the 1870s," explained Gai. "We are their only surviving descendants."

"Oh. I'm sorry…" she said. "May I ask why your ancestors left?"

"They thought it better to leave than to deal with constant assassination attempts from grandmother's family," shrugged Wolf, as though assassination attempts were insignificant in comparison to other things he could think of.

"Pureblood who ran off to avoid an arranged marriage or Pureblood who married somebody beneath her?" she asked.

"Both," said Wolf.

"Might as well be hung for a lamb," she said philosophically before taking another sip of sake. "Wait, does Mr. Lovegood know about you two?"

"He doesn't," said Gai. "The Utatanes were the ones who vouched for him when he came to the village as a fuinjutsu master."

"Oh."

"How bad's the war so far?" asked Gai.

Hermione shrugged, and suddenly found herself explaining the events of the previous two years with a segue into her first and second years as appropriate. "… I mean, what sort of man-ghost-creature-thing goes around stealing life force through fucking diaries?"

"Sounds like he created Horcruxes," shrugged Wolf.

"Created what now?"

Wolf remained silent, which confused Hermione until a waitress came over to take their empty beer mugs and sake bottles. After a moment's thought Hermione ordered a beer, feeling the need to ensure she didn't get too drunk, though the men ordered sake.

Once the waitress brought their drinks, Wolf explained, "A Horcrux is a piece of a soul which has been broken away from the body and attached to an object or being. It's a form a necromancy. Until all the Horcruxes he made are destroyed, his spirit will not leave the mortal plane."

"How does a person destroy a Horcrux?"

"Fiendfyre would be your best option," said Gai. "Unless you learn necromancy."

"Necromancy's illegal. And I'm not about to go messing with other people's souls." Hermione shrugged. "It's not illegality I mind so much as the morality."

"I know of necromancers who study the subject simply to know how to deal with those who use the art to abuse people," explained Gai.

"Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think I'll be able to learn any useful necromancy. Do you know how to make fiendfyre? I'm good with fire spells."

"How good?"

"When I was five I figured out how to make floating balls of fire," she bragged before taking a deep drink of her beer. "My first bit of magic I could control."

"I've always been good with illusions," commented Gai.

Across from them Wolf shuddered theatrically and muttered something about evil sunsets. "I electrocuted an enemy nin accidentally."

Hermione nodded. "I once accidentally blew up a tree stump and hit half a dozen Death Eaters with its flaming-and I do mean flaming-shrapnel. Saved our lives, it did. Gave my father enough time to find his pistol and shoot them."

"How old were you?" asked Wolf.

"Two and a half. I don't really remember it all that well. It was a couple months after Tommy got disembodied. The Aurors treated us like we were criminals even though in all honesty, if Dad hadn't killed those men, they'd have bribed their way out of jail like that." She snapped her fingers clumsily. "And then they'd have come back to finish the job. Bastards."

"I can control fiendfyre," he said. "How soon are you and the Lovegoods leaving?"

"Day after tomorrow. Mr. Lovegood has a job making these wards from scratch and Lulu and I are heading back to the Daimyo's castle with Chiriku-kun."

"I can teach you tomorrow morning."

"Thank you. And that reminds me, I didn't have a chance to thank you for rescuing me from that man last week."

Wolf inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Which man?" asked Gai.

"Nakamura Hideki cornered her in the market place."

"He kept requesting songs from me in the tea house as well and asking me out."

Beside her Gai was almost growling.

"What is it?"

"Nakamura Hideki is the lowest of the low," Gai said angrily. "He has forced his attentions upon more than one woman. Unfortunately those women were peasants or musicians and the courts would not acknowledge their complaints."

"Maybe I should have followed my instincts and cursed him when I had the chance."

"They can track jutsu through energy signatures," explained Wolf.

"Damn." There went that idea.

"So you and the Lovegoods are cousins," said Gai, attempting to change the subject.

She shrugged. "I'm a Muggle-Born. I have a good idea of who I inherited my magic from, but she was a squib cast out from her family more than two hundred years ago. I think Lulu and I are related through her mother more recently than any of the other branches of her family, but I have no idea for sure. It's not like I have access to the family trees or anything."

She flagged down the waitress and ordered a second bottle of sake. She was more than a little tipsy and the subject matter only made her want to get completely plastered.

Wolf tilted his head in question when the bottle of sake arrived and Gai asked, "Why are you trying to get yourself drunk."

"Her name was Sally-Anne. She was one of my roommates." Hermione spoke mechanically. "Sally died two and a half years ago. A couple of former Death Eaters got the great idea to attack her family while she was with them for winter break. Two years ago today the last of the men responsible for the massacre of the Perks family died."

There was a knowing look in Wolf's eye and one look at Gai proved that he had the same expression. Hermione took a large gulp of sake, ignoring that the wine was supposed to be sipped. "I wrote a song for her. First song I ever wrote. My roommates and I play it the day before winter break begins each year."

"Mm. We have the memorial stone, where all those who died in service of the village are memorialized," said Gai.

"Do you somebody who can help me write a will?" asked Hermione.

"Around here you just write it out and sign it in blood and have two witnesses sign it in blood and send a copy in to the Hokage's office so that they have a record of it just in case the originally copy is lost," explained Gai.

"Okay." She pulled out a piece of scratch paper and a quill and a bottle of ink from her bag. "Do you two mind being my witnesses? I just… I don't have much, but I think I need a will."

"Don't forget to put in clauses for incase you get married or have children," said Wolf.

It took her a couple minutes, but she managed to divide up her possessions and put in clauses for what she wanted if she had just a husband, a husband and children, or just children. It was all written carefully in Japanese, with an English translation underneath. She pushed it over to Gai.

"What do you think?"

"Very thorough," he agreed.

Hermione nodded and transcribed a second and third copy. Then she pulled out her athame. It was Wizarding tradition for all girls and women to carry an athame that dated back more than a millennia. From what she understood, the ritual blade was a symbol that the woman was a free citizen. She upended an empty ashtray and cut open her thumb, dripping the blood into the depression in the clay. She cleaned off the ink from her quill and scratched out her signature all three in both English and Japanese.

She cleaned off both the quill and the ashtray before handing everything to Gai. While he signed the papers, she cleaned her thumb up and applied a band aid before putting her athame back. Once he and Wolf signed everything, she put two copies away-she intended to keep one and give another to Professor McGonagall for safekeeping. The third Wolf took custody of.

"Thank you," said Hermione. "Hey, how does this village view the Wizarding, anyway? It never was explained to me."

"We're called the Dragon Clans. It's believed that we're all descended from a mating between a human woman and a dragon several thousand years ago and the woman's descendants scattered to the four winds. They call it a kekkei genkai." Wolf shrugged. "It's close enough to the truth."

"Well at least they got the back story right," shrugged Hermione.

"Mm."

"You know," she said, taking a sip of her sake. "There are so many things I wanted to do with my life, and I don't think I'll ever have the chance to do them."

"Like what?" asked Gai.

"My boys… they're so naïve. They think to themselves they're immortal, that the war won't affect them even though they intend be on the front lines. They think we'll survive and grow old together and the two of them will become Aurors and I'll get some administrative job at the Ministry and become a paper pusher. You're a genius, they say, and you'll do great things. But I'm not, I just think things through and listen and study more than they do, and I don't want to. I don't want to do great things. And I see that future, and all I want to do is scream. It won't happen. Not like they think it will."

"What do you want, should you survive?"

"I'd like to get married. I want to have children. But what man would want a woman with a figurative death sentence over her head? I want to be a musician. If I live, I'll do what I want, and not what they expect of me. I'm tired. I'm tired of the Wizarding, I'm tired of their expectations and their beliefs. I'm tired of what they think I should do."

Wolf's laugh was bitter and Hermione realized he was just as drunk as she was. "A shinobi would have you. What does it matter if you'll die young? Most shinobi die young as well. There aren't enough kunoichi to go around. And civilian women. Civilian women don't make good wives."

"They see what they want to see and not the reality, don't they," she said in understanding. "At least not until its too late. Harry's famous for something his parents did and he has these terrible fan girls. They're just awful, acting at though he's a prize to be won. And none of them see him for who he really is."

"We'd both heard the stories of Mab the Black in our childhoods, but two weeks ago was the first time we heard any of the songs," commented Gai. "None of our family has had any particular musical talent."

"Did you like it?"

"It's good to know that she's not forgotten by those outside the clan," said Wolf.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh… You're descended from Isla and Bob Hitchens, right? The timeline fits…"

"How did you know?" asked Gai.

"Sirius. When we stayed at his family home last summer, he showed us the family tree tapestry. He was so proud of getting blasted off it. Said that Isla Black was his cousin Andromeda's hero growing up." She tilted her head in contemplation. "I suppose that explains why you both smell like canines. All Blacks have either a dog or wolf animagus form. At least according to Sirius. I don't suppose either of you are metamorphmagi? Although I guess you wouldn't tell me if you were."

"Why would you think that?" Wolf said absently.

"Whatever… Can you at least tell me what your magical education was like? I'll trade you a story for a story," she said.

There were nods and suddenly Wolf was telling her about when he was a child his father began to teach him transfiguration. Apparently, though he knew how to use a wand, he generally used either hand symbols or completely wandless magic instead. She in turn told them of what it was like to attend a magical school and ended up going off topic and spending a good ten minutes on the House system.

By the time it was completely dark, Hermione had learned of how Gai was better at charms and Wolf at transfiguration. She admitted that her skills lay in arithmancy and spell creation and how certain people from certain unspeakable government agencies had sought her out the previous year and how she'd turned them down, refusing to let her abilities be used to make curses and other spells for people when she had no idea how they'd use them, particularly given that the Ministry was inundated with former Death Eaters. Hermione had asked about the mask and black uniform she'd first seen Wolf in and he'd laughed, commenting on how she didn't miss anything. And then he'd told her about what ANBU did. At least the basics of what ANBU did.

By the time the trio settled into a comfortable silence, Hermione was well and truly drunk, and she knew it. Like her, both of her companions were drunk. Not quite fall down drunk, but they were certainly three sheets to the wind, which was why, when Gai made his suggestion, it sounded like a good idea.

"Yeh should jush get married," said Gai.

"I know. Buh who woul' I marry? Don't shee men linin up," slurred Hermione.

"Marry 'im." Gai motioned dramatically at Wolf who was giving him a glassy look.

"Okay," she shrugged, and then did what seemed logical. She unhooked her sheathed athame from her belt and held it out to Wolf. "For you if'n yah want it."

He shrugged and took the blade from her with a bow of the head. "Lesh find person tah make it offish-offic-legal."

"'Kay," she agreed.

The trio stumbled out of the booth and paid their tabs before leaving the bar. Hermione leaned heavily against Wolf as they made their way down the street. The wove their way down the street, part of Hermione impressed by how steady on his feet and graceful Wolf was in comparison to her. Eventually, Gai and Wolf led her into an official looking building that had a sign before it that said something to the effect of something tower, though Hermione was sure that wasn't what it was really called.

"Can I help you," said a kunoichi giving then a rather disparaging look.

"Need ta, need ta register marriage," explained Gai.

"Wait there," said the kunoichi.

"Oh, my will. Need tah give my will," she said.

"Won't forget," said Wolf, waving a hand at her.

Wolf helped Hermione sprawl out on a chair, though he and Gai remained standing. "I use' tah like blonds, 'cept then Lockhart stole memories. I don' like blons anymore. But yer nah blond, so thas 'kay."

"Nah blond?" said Wolf, looking hurt.

"No, got ashy gra' hair. Pwetty."

Wolf nodded, almost preening and Hermione rolled her eyes.

The kunoichi walked back in and said, "Utatane-sama will see you in office 3."

"Thanks," said Gai.

Wolf and Gai helped her stand and they started to walk again. They ended up walking down the hall and into an office. Wolf dropped Hermione in a chair and then slouched against a wall, staring at the older kunoichi. The woman had to be in her late fifties or early sixties and Hermione found herself impressed that she'd survived so long in such a demanding line of work.

"Mei-chan said you wanted to register a marriage," said the woman.

"We got married," explained Wolf, motioning to Hermione.

"Are you three drunk?" demanded Utatane.

"Yep," said Hermione.

"Still married," explained Wolf. "Hermione gave athame. I acshepted. We'er married now."

"It's a legal marriage?" echoed Utatane.

Gai nodded. "Our ancestors from where Hermione-chan from. Bride gives cere-ceremonia' blade tah groom. Are married."

"Ri-ight. Why a knife?"

"Not just knife, is athame. Very impor'ant knife," she explained.

"Why a ceremonial blade, then?"

"Means bride truss groom tah protec her and her chil'ren," explained Wolf.

"Uh huh. So she gave you a ceremonial blade and you accepted it, which means that you two are legally married," clarified Utatane.

The trio nodded.

"Right," she sighed. She pulled out a form and began to fill it out. "The bride's name?"

"Was Hermione Granger… is Hermione… uh… what is yer na' anywa'?"

Utatane put her head in her hand and let out a sigh. "Hatake. Hatake Kakashi."

"Righ' is Hermione Jane Hatake now."

"How do you spell your name?"

"Lihk this," she said, taking a brush and righting her name out properly in Japanese.

"So you'll keep your own clan name-"

"No." Hermione shook her head. "Taking husband's clan name. Fam'ly name Granger. Now it's Hatake."

"Dif'rent namin' customs," explained Gai.

"Is Hermione or Jane your given name?"

"Firs' name, middle name. Go by Hermione."

"This is going to take a while," grumbled the woman.

* * *

Author's Notes: So, as hinted at, a drunken wedding.

The knife thing was inspired by a number of sources. According to some neo pagans and Wiccans, an athame is a ceremonial blade. Wether or not that's true, I don't know. I think it was either the Saxon or Viking women who used to carry a knife to symbolize they were free women. And I believe it was in one of the True Blood books where Eric tricked Sookie into marrying him by giving him a knife. In face, I've seen many fictional accounts of a woman giving a man a knife meaning something along the lines of marriage.

As for why I chose that rather than having Kakashi, Gai and Hermione stumble to a priest, I wanted to give the Wizarding an old tradition. Obviously it's not in common use, but the knowledge of the ritual still exists.

Finally, my decision about Gai and Kakashi and their family. It was never explained what happened to Isla and Bob Hitchens after they eloped, so I felt free to use them as I please. The "Hatake White Chakra" inspired me to make Kakashi Wizarding, as did my desire to ensure that they had relatively similar life expectancies. After all, in the books, wizards coule live twice as long as Muggles. And Gai is Kakashi's cousin because I think it's funny.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I know this is a couple days later than the other chapters, but I actually wanted to go through and edit it properly now that Irene is no longer hanging over my head. In the future expect a chapter about once a week. For those who were curious, Irene only flooded my town a little bit, and only the area much closer to the bay than I am. There was a branch the size of a car down a bit away from my house, but it wasn't so bad. The worst was the power lines that were down about twenty feet from my mail box. As it turns out, my aunt had it a little worse than we did, but everybody's alright, if a little waterlogged.

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Hermione let out a groan as she came to. Her hangover was worse than usual. Normally her hangovers were no worse than a mild headache. She tried to burrow back into her pillows, only to stop short. Her pillow was breathing. And surprisingly warm.

She reared back, letting out a shriek as she fell from the bed. She looked up just in time to see several knives fly through the air where her body had been.

"Ow," she moaned, clutching her head and hoping that the knives had been some sort of mirage. What had happened last night?

She thought back, trying to remember even as her eyes scanned for her wand. She remembered speaking with Gai and Wolf-no, his name was Kakashi, wasn't it?-about magic. It was all rather clear, unfortunately. She remembered Gai's suggestion far too well. She even remembered going to what had to have been Hokage Tower. At least, she supposed, that Utatane woman-Koharu, she thought-had made sure to serve the three of them water. Her hangover would have been worse otherwise.

She blushed as she remembered what had happened after they'd returned to Kakashi's apartment. At least he'd thought to ensure that she'd enjoyed herself, bringing her to completion with his skilled tongue and calloused fingers. Afterwards had been uncomfortable, and initially, at least, more than a little painful, but not all that bad overall. Although she did still feel more than a little sore.

And then she felt the blood drain from her face when she remembered that they'd not used protection. She had no access to the morning after pill and none of the plants she could think of that worked as birth control would be of use. Either she didn't have them in her potions kit and they didn't grow locally, or they were only useful if ingested over the course of a month or so beforehand, much like the pill.

"I'd thank you not to try to kill me," said Hermione.

Kakashi sat up, somehow keeping a hand over his face and his scarred left eye closed, though Hermione distinctly remembered seeing a strange red and black eye instead of an eye socket or a dark grey eye to match his right, the night before.

He looked down at her disinterestedly. "What are you still doing here?"

"In case you've forgotten, I'm now your wife," she growled, even as part of her began to panic.

The Wizarding didn't believe in divorce, although the annulment of a marriage was occasionally permitted, as she well knew. Unless they had done something wrong during the brief wedding ceremony, and she was rather sure they hadn't, they were stuck with each other until one or the other died.

He blinked. "We didn't."

"We did," she sighed. "I'm going to go get dressed and then I think we need to talk."

Kakashi nodded and got out of bed. He grabbed the knives out of the wall and a change of clothing, before glancing at Hermione, who'd thankfully taken the sheet with her when she'd fallen off the bed. He went out into the living room the change so that Hermione could get dressed in privacy.

She clumsily stood and found her bra, panties, dress and chemise, along with her bag. She quickly dressed and then finger combed and plaited her hair, as using a hair brush would have made her hair a terrible, bushy mess. Once dressed, Hermione began to search around for her athame and wand. Giving the athame to the groom was a symbolic gesture and the bride was expected to take it back once the marriage was both publicly acknowledged and consummated. Once found, both were slipped back into place upon her person. Then she hesitantly knocked on the door back into the living room.

"Are you dressed yet?"

"Yes."

She pushed the door open and bit her lip unsurely. "I think, I think I should go back to the hotel room. Mr. Lovegood should be there for this conversation. He and Luna are probably worried sick about where I am by now."

He nodded his agreement and opened the front door of the apartment, motioning for her to go first. Hermione followed Kakashi out of the apartment building, paling even further with each step. She winced at the sunlight and felt as though she might throw up.

How could she have done something so stupid? She might have blamed Kakashi, but she was the one to offer him her knife-and why did those old Wizarding rituals have to be so simple? Though most couples preferred modern religious or civil ceremonies these days, the old rites and rituals were still perfectly legal among the UK's Wizarding enclave, unfortunately. It was completely legal and even more binding.

Kakashi gave her an assessing look and angled them toward a restaurant that was thankfully not that crowded at this hour, as it was after breakfast, but before lunch. He ordered a traditional breakfast of tea, miso soup, rice, and some fish for them both.

"How could we have thought that was a good idea last night?" she asked silently. "No offense meant, but I barely know you. I have no idea what your values or beliefs are and you know just as little about me."

"I distinctly remember us hammering out a marriage contract with Koharu-sama's aid last night."

She blinked. "What? When?"

"After we signed the marriage certificate and submitted your will and I updated my own, but before I amended the clan registry and my ANBU file and registered you as a citizen of the village with permission to travel freely so that you could take care of clan business and your work as a bard would be unimpeded. You are rather organized, even when drunk." Even through his indolent attitude, Hermione could tell he actually seemed impressed by her organizational skills.

Hermione sat back, thinking things over. "I think I remember. Didn't we name your cousin and Luna as our desired guardians should both of us pass on before our future children were seventeen?"

"Aa. And we agreed that our daughters would be civilians and attend either Hogwarts or a comparable school and that our sons would be trained as shinobi, but were not permitted to graduate from the Ninja Academy before the age of twelve under any circumstances, no matter what I or the teachers or the Councils or the Hokage said."

"I remember that. Didn't Utatane-san suggest that clause?"

Kakashi nodded.

"I think I like her," announced Hermione. "Where's Maito-san? I want to ask him what he was thinking, suggesting what he did." Well, she wanted to yell at him, anyway.

"On a mission. He was scheduled to leave more than an hour before we awoke."

They sat in uncomfortable silence until the waitress brought them breakfast. Hermione dug in, deciding not to speak again until her headache was more manageable.

"We could get divorced."

Hermione shook her head. "You know as well as I do that divorce does not exists among our people's laws. This is for life."

She let out a sigh. "Look. I'll be gone ten months out of the year for the next two years, at least. And who knows what will happen during the war."

"When does the school year begin?"

"The first of September. And I need to mail Penny, uh, Penelope Clearwater. She needs to know what happened."

"Penny?"

"She's responsible for me until I turn seventeen in September." And an apprentice healer who would likely know more about Hermione's birth control options than anybody else. "I should owl the Deputy Headmistress; Professor McGonagal while I'm at it."

"You're sixteen?"

She shrugged. "Sixteen is legal for marriage among the Muggles in the UK. I have the feeling most women marry younger than that around here."

There was no marriageable age among the Wizarding, although according to custom most didn't marry until after Hogwarts. Nor was there an age of consent, either, but that was unimportant anyway. Among Muggle society, sixteen was both marriageable age-with permission from the courts or parental permission in the UK-and the age of consent as well. There were some exceptions, of course. Hermione had two classmates who'd been married by proxy when they were toddlers, though they were not supposed to consummate the marriage until they were seventeen, or possibly older.

"Civilians, yes. Most kunoichi marry in their late teens or early twenties."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty one."

Hermione looked down, picking at the last of her rice. She'd been hungrier than she'd thought. "So… I guess we should go see the Lovegoods now."

Kakashi nodded. He left money for the food on the table and escorted her out of the building. It didn't take them long to find their way to the hotel. She bit her lip nervously when she realized that there was a man from the military police in the room, speaking to Xenophilius. Luna gave her a wide eyed, stunned look. It was the first time she'd ever seen the eternally unflappable Luna shocked.

"Uh, hi," she said nervously.

"Hermione, where have you been?" demanded Xenophilius.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry for worrying you. I went out for a drink and well…"

"We got married," said Kakashi, as though it were perfectly normal to spontaneously marry somebody a person had known for only a couple hours. "Utatane Koharu-sama registered our marriage last night." He nodded at the police officer. "Shisui-kun."

"Kakashi-kun. Have to say I didn't expect something like this out of you," said the officer. They knew each other obviously, and were apparently acquaintances, if not friends. "Is there any reason for this marriage to be invalidated?"

"I sort of gave him my athame," she explained to Xenophilius, knowing that he would understand her meaning.

"You accepted, I assume. Did you know what you were agreeing to?" he asked Kakashi. When then man nodded, he turned to Shisui. "It's legal. Thank you for coming out Uchiha-san, but I'll deal with this myself."

There were nods and goodbyes and then the police officer left. Hermione played with the end of her loosely braided hair nervously as she waited for Xenophilius to speak. Eventually, he said, "Luna, take Hermione and help her clean up and change into fresh clothing. Hatake-san and I need to speak."

She grabbed a tunic with elbow length sleeves in deference to the heat and skirt along with fresh undergarments and allowed Luna to lead her into the shower room. Hermione helped gather a bucket of water and then stripped off her clothing. She soaped up a cloth and washed her body, careful to avoid her stitches.

The curse she'd been hit with was particularly nasty. According to the Healers at St. Mungo's, she wouldn't begin to heal physically for another week or two, and during that time, she had to keep her stitches dry and clean and ensure that she didn't bother her ribs too much. They had been sliced clean through by Dolohov's curse. As it was, she was on a potions regimen that kept her upright and mobile, although she still felt the occasional twinge of pain. At least they were simple potions Penny had been willing to make herself rather than spend a fortune buying from the hospital or a professional potions maker.

She wrapped a towel around her body and then began to wash her long hair. It was simple enough to simply lean back into a buck of water to wet it, and then again to rinse off the shampoo. Hermione towel dried her hair and then applied a leave in conditioner before beginning the lengthy process of combing out her curls. Hermione put on her underclothes and then put on the thin cotton tunic and a broomstick skirt.

"I like him," announced Luna, after nearly half an hour of silence. "I think he'll be good for you. And you'll be good for him."

"He and his cousin are Wizarding," she commented. "Descended from one of the Blacks who got thrown out for marrying a Muggle-Born."

"If you'd said something, I would have gone out with you."

"I should have," she agreed. "But I needed some time alone."

"Mm," she agreed.

The duo went back out into the main room. Xenophilius and Kakashi were kneeling across from each other at the low table. He nodded and then looked to Hermione.

"Kakashi-san has explained the situation to me." He was more familiar with Kakashi and she wondered if that was a good or a bad thing.

"And?"

"We believe you should remain in Konoha for the remainder of your summer vacation with your husband, although if you would feel more comfortable staying in the castle with Luna, we understand."

"I, um. Alright," she said.

And suddenly she felt abandoned all over again. She knew that Xenophilius had responsibilities, but how could he just leave her here with this stranger, with a man neither of them knew from Adam, as though it was proper thing to do? Luna at least was trying to be helpful, even if she did go about giving that help oddly.

"I'll arrange for Luna to return to Konoha for the last week before we return."

"Okay."

"If you write a letter to Professor McGonagall, I'll send it out for you."

Hermione nodded, still feeling a little stunned.

"Why don't you and Luna pack up and seal your things so you can bring them over to Kakashi-san's apartment."

"I-alright."

Kakashi gave her a key. "I have afternoon shift. I don't see why you can't spend the day with your friend."

Hermione nodded once again. "Right."

Still in shock, Hermione allowed Luna to lead to the back of the room. The duo quickly tossed her clothing, books, and knickknacks into the trunk before sealing it into a scroll. Then they sealed the instruments individually into a scroll. Finally Luna pressed a bundle of papers into Hermione's hands.

"A gift, for your wedding," she explained quietly.

"Thank you," she said.

She unrolled the bundle and looked over the images appreciatively for a moment before sealing them away as well. Hermione slipped the books into her bag along with her knitting and then put the bag back on.

"I have everything," Hermione said quietly.

"Luna, why don't you go with Hermione and help her unpack," suggested Xenophilius.

"Yes Daddy," she agreed.

In the hall Kakashi took her left arm and examined the inside of her elbow, pushing up her sleeve. "I was under the impression that tattoos were uncommon for women."

She shrugged. "I got it October of last year," she explained as Kakashi looked at the gray-blue figures of an otter, a stag, and a terrier. "It's Harry, Ron, and I's patroni."

"It's in the same spot as the Death Eater's Dark Mark," commented Luna.

"That was the point," said Hermione. The trio had each gotten one as a figurative 'fuck you' to their enemies. Not that they went out of their way to announce that. Only their various roommates knew about the tattoo the three of them now sported.

"It's good work," said Kakashi.

She blushed, looking down. The trio headed out not long after. They went back up to his apartment which was really rather small. The living room was large enough to entertain small groups, but the kitchen was far too small with almost no counter space and there was only the one bedroom. At least the apartment had its own toilet and separate room for bathing, as was apparently common in this country. Luna stood in the center of the room, hands on her hips as she looked about.

"Have you considered setting up some expansion wards?" asked Luna. "It wouldn't take much to double or triple your space and they would be easy enough to work into your existing ward scheme."

"Maybe even set up a couple false windows keyed to the view outside and it would be easy to add on to the kitchen," suggested Hermione, getting into it. "Unless your landlord would have a problem with that."

"I'll find someplace else to live before you come back to the village," he said.

Hermione unsealed her trunk and Luna helped her unpack while Kakashi leaned against a wall, reading. The duo placed her instruments to the side in the living room so they'd be out of the way.

Hermione bit her lip. "Um, do I have enough time to learn that thing we talked about last night before you have to go to work, or should I wait for another day?"

"I have enough time. Lovegood-san can come along. She may need to know this."

"You can call me Luna. You're my friend's husband."

He gave a short nod and led them downstairs. They went to a stone canyon outside the village but within the walls that was labeled 'Training Ground 32.'

Hermione and Luna sat down on a boulder and watched patiently while Kakashi explained, and then demonstrated using a couple hand seals. According to him it was so difficult a spell that she and Luna should only use a wand to create it unless they were incredibly skilled with wandless magic, otherwise they risked loosing control and burning down the countryside. And then he had Hermione try the spell. It was one of the hardest things she'd ever done and several times she felt as though the creatures of fire it created were getting away from her. Even more difficult was ending the spell. Hermione all but collapsed onto the ground, gratefully accepting the water Kakashi offered her while Luna attempted to create Fiendfyre herself. The duo did the spell twice more each before it exhausted them completely.

Kakashi escorted Hermione and Luna back into the village before he left to go to work. The duo headed over to Ichiraku's and ate half a dozen bowls or ramen each before debating what to do.

They ended up at a tea shop on the opposite side of the village from the Akimichi's eventually. She took out a couple pieces of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink.

"I suppose I've delayed writing to Professor McGonagall long enough."

"What about your parents?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's… it's complicated. And I am nowhere near drunk enough to explain it to you. And honestly, I don't think I'll be drinking anytime soon."

Luna acknowledged her words by focusing on her tea, so as to give her the perception of privacy while she wrote her letter. Eventually she set it aside to dry and took a sip of her own tea. The second letter was both easier and harder. Her and Penny's relationship was complicated, as she'd said before. She pulled out the folding knife and wrapped it in a spare handkerchief before tying the bundle with a piece of spare thread. She paused for a moment and wrote out a quick third letter and attached it to the knife with the thread.

"Could you have your father send this letter to Professor McGonagall, this to apprentice-healer Penelope Clearwater, and the package to Harry? Hedwig hasn't been back yet and I want him to get this before we return."

Luna slipped both into her own bag. "I'm sure he'll appreciate your thoughtfulness."

"So, this has to be in the top five of the list of incredibly stupid things I've done over the years. And I've done a lot of stupid things over the years. I still can't believe I agreed to… Even if I was drunk, I shouldn't have…"

Luna tilted her head. "Perhaps this should not be seen as a tragedy, but rather as an opportunity. Why did you marry him in the first place?"

"I was throwing myself a bit of a pity party and I said… I said that I'd regret not marrying or having children before I died. And then there was something about most shinobi dying young and delusional civilian women and the next thing I know Maito-san's suggesting that Ha-well, Kakashi-kun and I marry."

"As soon as he fathers a child on you, you'll have completed your goals."

"I-you have a point. But I'm…"

She was young by both Wizarding and Muggle standards. Too young to have a child. But there was the possibility that the events of the night before had had consequences. If she wanted children, she would have to have them young or she'd probably miss out on the opportunity entirely. She was thinking about it too much, Hermione decided. She was getting ahead of herself. If she was pregnant, she'd worry about it then. Hermione knew that whatever happened, she wouldn't be able to go through with an abortion.

In mid afternoon the duo headed out to browse the market. They ended up at a store that sold cloth, looking at the various options. Hermione had enough dresses, but she had seen the state of Kakashi's shurinkan patterned patchwork quilt and it was more than a little threadbare. Hermione would have left it alone, but there were no other quilts in the apartment. It was Luna who'd suggested making a quilt as a project for the summer, as even though the sewing spells would make that part of the process easy and relatively quick, she still needed to do all of the piecework, which might take a while to figure out.

They chose batting, two large pieces of cotton for the bottom layer and the top layer and then began to pick out colors for the pieces of the top and finally thread. Hermione had decided to make a quilt with a forest in late spring with animals hidden within and a couple birds flying above in front of a set of snow topped mountains with a mountain stream going down one side and then through the woods along with a flower filled meadow in front. It would hopefully be masculine enough not to bother Kakashi. She'd briefly considered a traditional wedding quilt with tulips or rings, but had dismissed the idea relatively quickly. She wasn't sure that Kakashi would understand the significance of the imagery and she likewise had no desire to do something to celebrate the wedding.

Luna and Hermione carried everything back and spent the rest of the afternoon deciding on a design for the quilt, mostly based upon Luna's drawings. She was a far better artist than Hermione anyway. They had supper together and went to a nearby park.

Eventually the duo said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. The Lovegoods were set to head out with the Daimyo's party very early in the morning and Hermione wasn't sure that she'd be up in time to see her friend off.

She bit her lip, contemplating what to do now. She put her sewing materials away and grabbed her book. For lack of a better idea, she lay on the couch and settled in to read. She found herself yawning only two or three hours after dark and got ready for bed.

Kakashi still wasn't back by the time that Hermione went to bed, but she faintly remembered a figure coming in through the window sometime in the middle of the night. She reached out with her magic and then turned over to go back to sleep when she realized it was Kakashi. When she was on the edge of sleep, she felt something warm move her closer to the wall so that it could slip under the covers and lay down. Still more asleep than awake, she snuggled into this new warmth and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Hermione groaned, attempting to bury her head under a blanket when she heard something pounding. "Too early," she muttered. "Go 'way."

Beside her the bed dipped and then sprung back into place as the warmth went away. There was the sound of a door opening, and then she heard a voice say, "I heard the craziest rumor last night-"

Hermione yawned and sat up, realizing she wouldn't get anymore sleep. She blinked, trying to figure out why nobody was speaking. Hermione yawned again, and then turned to look in the general direction of the door. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a direct view from the bed, through the bedroom door to the front door. Had Kakashi the arranged the furniture specifically to get that effect? Kakashi stood at the front door, blocking most of the view, but Hermione managed to see a figure on the other side of the door.

"Morning, Sarutobi-san," she said, waving at Asuma lazily.

"It better not be a rumor," said Asuma, almost growling at Kakashi.

"I see you know my wife," said Kakashi.

"Give me a minute," she ordered before slipping out of bed and closing the door to the bedroom so that she'd have some privacy.

It took her only a moment to throw in a simple muslin gown with pink accents and embroidery on over a chemise and then do her morning ablutions. She grabbed her knitting and opened the door. Bag over one arm and she twisted her hair and then twirled it into a bun on the back of her head, pinning it as she stepped out into the living room.

"It's good to see you," said Hermione. "But I thought the Daimyo and his entourage was heading out at dawn and it's at least an hour past."

Asuma shook his head. "Shijimi-sama lost her cat. Again."

"Oh God. I don't know where Crooksie is," she said. "And I left his things with my cousins. I need to-"

"Could you?" Kakashi said to Asuma.

The man nodded and disappeared in a blur of movement. Kakashi went back into the bedroom and after a moment, Hermione decided to follow him in. She sat down in a chair by the desk, worrying about what had happened to her poor familiar as Kakashi went to the toilet and then got dressed. He returned in what she was quickly beginning to believe was the local shinobi uniform. He was strapping on various weapons and then wrapping bandages around the hems of his pant legs when Hermione heard scratching.

She looked up to see Crookshanks just outside the window. In an instant she was at the window, only to have Kakashi gently pull her back.

"I need to key you into the wards before you can open the windows," he said, opening the window.

How were the windows warded for Kakashi to have such a reaction? It was probably a nasty set of wards keyed to only allow access to a specific set of magical signatures from the sound of it, though Hermione couldn't be completely sure without seeing the arrays.

Crookshanks slipped through the window, Kakashi closing it behind him. She gathered the cat into her arms and cuddled him to her chest.

"I'm so sorry I forgot about you," she said, petting the cat affectionately. "I'll never ever forget you again Crooksipoo."

A couple minutes later there was a knocking at the door. Hermione opened it, expecting Asuma, only to take a half step back when she saw it was Genma.

"Yo," said Kakashi.

Genma gave Kakashi a disbelieving look. "I heard that you got married, but I didn't believe it."

Kakashi shrugged and Hermione let out a sigh. "Yes, we got married."

"Oh," said Genma. He gave Hermione an evaluating look and then said, "My team is waiting for me."

"Please tell Inuzuka-san I said congratulations for making Chunin," said Hermione. "And that I was really impressed by her and her dogs at the tournament."

He nodded and walked back down the hallway. Hermione was about to close it when their third visitor for the morning appeared.

An unfamiliar purple haired woman in a trench coat and mesh held out an arm to stop the door from closing and announced, "I heard some bimbo tricked you into marriage by using some barbaric knife ceremony."

"I didn't think it was a barbaric ceremony," Kakashi said dramatically. "It's a sacred ritual from my ancestor's people which dates back more than a thousand years."

"You make it sound like I stabbed him," grumbled Hermione, wondering if this was going to be happening all day. "The knife was sheathed when I handed it to him."

"Your ancestor's people," said the woman.

"My ancestors come from the same set of islands as Hermione-chan."

"Well, in all fairness, I'm from Scotland and your great great great grandparents were from England, but I won't hold that against you," she joked.

"And that means?"

"She's from the northern part of the island and my family's from the southern part which walled themselves off from the northern tribes about fifteen hundred years ago just so that they could get some peace and quiet."

"Hey, it was the Romans who built Hadrian's Wall, not the Britons. And they only did that because they couldn't conquer the entire island and they were afraid of us Scots."

"Of course."

"So you knew what the knife thing was about?" said the woman, staring at the duo as if they had four heads between them.

Kakashi gave a short nod. "Hermione-chan, this is Mitarashi Anko. Anko-chan, this is my wife, Hermione-chan." There was an almost mocking edge to his honorific usage and Hermione realized that he was teasing the kunoichi. She was probably one of his friends.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Hermione.

"Anko-chan," said Asuma, as he reappeared in the doorway. "I couldn't find your cat, but I retrieved what you left behind with the Lovegoods."

"Thank you, Sarutobi-san," said Hermione, taking the bundle from his arms. "Crooksie showed up at the window a couple minutes after you left. Does everybody have time to go out for breakfast?" The fridge and the cupboards were almost completely empty, something she'd have to rectify before long. "If we're going to talk about this, I'd rather eat while we do so."

There were general rumbles of agreement and the group headed out of the apartment, Hermione locking it behind them, leaving Crookshanks within. They ended up at a restaurant Hermione hadn't even noticed, the main entrance hidden down an alley. The group was seated quickly and suddenly Hermione found herself unsure of what to say. She managed to buy some time by looking at the menu and then ordering.

"Sarutobi-san, could you keep an eye on Lu for me?" she found herself asking. "She tends to be so oblivious at times and her father's going to be off somewhere, probably across the country and Chiriku-kun will be working and-"

"I understand," said Asuma. "I'll look after your cousin."

"Thank you."

"You're related to one of the Ninja Guardian Twelve?" said Anko, relaxing a bit.

Hermione nodded. "Chiriku-kun and I members of the same clan. Completely different branches, but the same clan."

"So how did you two meet?" asked Asuma.

"We saw each other around the village a couple times," she explained once she realized Kakashi had no intention of speaking, understanding from what little Kakashi had said that she wasn't to mention him being in ANBU. She shrugged. "Honestly, I didn't even know him until two nights ago. He, Maito-san, and I got completely drunk together. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So what does your family think of this?"

Hermione shrugged. "I think Lovegood-san is more angry that I did something so irresponsible than anything else. But Lu said she was happy for us."

"And your parents?" clarified Asuma.

Hermione looked down, concentrating on her food. She shook her head. "I suppose they'd think it one more bad decision in a long line of terrible choices if I told them."

"You're not going to tell your parents," said Asuma, giving her an odd look.

"I don't see why I should. It's not like they'll care one way or the other about what I do with my life or who I marry," she stated. Even two years later, that knowledge hurt. But she wouldn't give in. She wouldn't cry for people who didn't deserve it.

Anko was giving her a speculative look, and Hermione wondered if the woman had picked up on what the men obviously had not. Well, Asuma, anyway. Next to her, Kakashi had sagged in a way that suggested he'd moved into an even more slothful position. She was beginning to think that the more bored Kakashi acted, the more interested he was in what was going on around him.

"Hermione-san," Asuma started to say.

"They disowned me," she stated baldly, before he had a chance to finish.

Kakashi actually lowered his book so that he could look at her.

"What? It happens a lot," she said. "Particularly to those in my position."

Kakashi nudged her leg with his own in acknowledgement and went back to reading. He'd understood her message, even if the others hadn't.

"What did you do that they would-"

She gave Asuma a quelling look. "I inherited the clan kekkei genkai from one of my mother's ancestors. My parents hate the rest of the clan." Her parents were active members of the Church of England and so far as they were concerned, magic was unnatural and unholy. They'd never abused her, but they had made their opinions very clear over the years. Her maternal grandmother had been the only member of the family in the know who hadn't been uncomfortable with her magic. "They didn't deal well when the clan came for me when I was eleven so that I could learn to control my abilities before I accidentally hurt myself or others. Again. A week after my grandmother died, they cast me out from the family entirely. My cousin Penny took me in when she found out what had happened. She has the kekkei genkai as well, though her parents didn't throw her out for it."

Mrs. Clearwater was her mother's second cousin, not that Penny or Hermione had known that until a family reunion before Hermione's second year. It had been quite the surprise to run into a fellowHogwarts student. However, knowing about their relation to each other had saved their lives during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. If not for the knowledge that Hermione was her baby cousin, Penny admitted that she'd not have heard Hermione's supposition about what the beast really was out. And then they'd have been killed rather than just petrified. The Clearwaters unfortunately, were just as ill at ease with magic as the Grangers, although they'd not disowned Penny outright. They'd just made it clear it would be for the best for all involved if she didn't visit.

"Religious reasons?" asked Kakashi. At Hermione's nod, he explained, "The local religion views kekkei genkai as against the natural order of the world and believe that any who possess one made a deal with a demon for extraordinary abilities."

"Perhaps we could talk about something else…" she suggested. Kakashi's explanation was technically a little harsh, but still true to the historic attitudes of the Church and Hermione really didn't want to dwell on that for too long.

* * *

Ending Notes: Maybe no quite as funny as some people were imagining, but I'm happy with this chapter. I edited it what had to be ten times, but it's finally up to my standards. I know that Hermione and Kakashi still haven't spoken. That's intentional. More than that, I won't say at this point. Just as intentional is how Hermione is almost always in motion.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: As promised, the next chapter. And on time, too. I know, I'm just as surprised. Alright, so I'm started jury duty on Monday, so I'm not sure if I'll have Chapter 6 up next Wednesday or not.

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

Without thinking, Hermione held out an arm so that Hedwig could land. She absently scratched her around the neck, only to stop at the look on Anko's face. Asuma had left after breakfast to attend to his duties and Kakashi had said something about work and that he'd be back that night before handing Hermione some money and leaving. At least, she supposed, he'd thought about how she was supposed to feed herself while he was gone.

Although she was beginning to wonder if he was avoiding being alone with her long enough for her to actually speak to him about anything important. Then again, Hermione hadn't exactly sat Kakashi down to speak to him. She knew she was subconsciously avoiding anything important, but there was only so long she could allow herself to do so.

"Is that an owl summons?" asked Anko.

Hermione shook her head and laughed. "Hedwig here is my friend's messenger owl. The Dragon Clans back home use owls to deliver letters and packages." She gently untied the package and slipped it into her bag. "I'll send a reply in a couple hours, Hedwig. Go find yourself something to eat or a place to sleep for the day."

The owl hooted and affectionately nipped at her fingers before flying off.

"Why owls?"

"You know, I have no idea. But we've used them for millennia."

"Huh. And they understand human speech?"

"Well enough. They understand ideas and so long as you're clear on who the message is to be delivered to, they're incredibly accurate. Harry has no idea where I really am, so Hedwig was probably just told to deliver the letter to me and she managed to find me."

"That is impressive," commented Anko. "How did your people manage that?"

"I have no idea. I've never been all that interested in learning. But you might want to ask Akimichi Natsumi-san. I know she keeps a messenger owl or two." At Anko's nod, she continued. "So, what are we doing?" asked Hermione. At Anko's shrug, Hermione let out a sigh. "I've seen everywhere in the village that I'm allowed to visit, so unless you suggest something, I had no plans for today other than grocery shopping. I swear, that man keeps no food in his apartment. Well, unless you want to help me make a quilt."

"A quilt?"

Hermione shook her head in disgust. "There is only one quilt in the entire apartment and it's so threadbare, I'm surprised it hasn't ripped in half or lost all it's batting yet. Luna and I already have the design figured out and I've got the materials. The only thing left is to cut the pieces, put them together, and sew it up."

"Or we could go get dango," suggested Anko, clearly horrified by the thought of needlework-or possibly by the idea of doing something so feminine. Admittedly, Hermione felt much the same, but she was limited by the lack of available entertainment and the inability to play music all day without breaks.

She shrugged. "Sounds as good as anything else. I think I had some dango during the festival after the Chunin Exams, but I'm not sure."

Anko gaped at her for a moment before all but dragging her to a stand, muttering about how it was a travesty. They ended up sitting at a stand at the edge of the market, a plate of dango before each of them.

"So, what's your clan like?" asked Anko.

Hermione shrugged. "It's a bit more complicated than around here. Back home, it's like we're one people or a huge clan with a bunch of different families, rather than a bunch of clans that live in the same village."

"Alright, that you're going to have to explain."

"So far as we're concerned, if you're a member of the Dragon Clans, you're one of us, you're a member of the same people as everybody else. There are about seventy different Dragon Clans living on the island, so with the way religion is around there, they all banded together and created their own society and government. About five hundred years back they went into hiding completely." It was close enough to the truth that it should be easy to remember. "In the past, they hunted down our women and our children and they killed them. There were hundreds of ways they killed our kind. It was… it was bad. They don't do that sort of thing anymore, but that's because most of them think the stories about the Dragon Clans are just stories."

"What sort of training did your clan give you?"

Hermione shrugged. "The normal training. We have a school up north that all the clans send their children to. Although when a person attends, it's considered entering into a seven year apprenticeship. I finished the first five years of training and have two more to go." She shrugged. "I can't give you any specifics on what sort of jutsu we learn. I was only taught the very basics of self defense with chakra and I've never been taught to fight physically or how to use any weapons. Some of the men are taught how to fight physically as well by their clan when they're children, but most of us are just scholars, not warriors."

"But they teach you how to use your kekkei genkai."

Hermione nodded. "They need to be sure that if any of us marry outside of the clans or decide to go into self exile from them, that we can teach our descendants how to use their kekkei genkai as well. Hell, Kakashi-kun and Maito-san are generations removed from anybody who attended the school and they're just as well trained in the use of our kekkei genkai as anybody who has attended it, better than the graduates in some areas."

Anko let out a whistle. "Impressive." She turned back to her dango for several moments. When she was done eating the dumpling, she asked, "Is self exile common?"

"Yeah. It's what Kakashi-kun and Maito-san's ancestors did. The school takes in maybe twenty to fifty students each year-my year was rather large with forty-and two to six of them will choose self exile in the end." Hermione shrugged. With what the Death Eaters had been doing to the Muggle population, the Aurors had been particularly adamant in their protection of Muggle-Born children, which had resulted in seven surviving to attend Hogwarts instead of the usual one or two. "Since it seems that I'll be moving here permanently after I finish my apprenticeship, I don't suppose you could tell me how things around here work?"

Hermione pulled out her knitting and settled in to listen as Anko explained. They spent a good portion of the morning talking about village politics and the Clan, Shinobi, and Civilian Councils, which essentially ran the day to day business of the village, though in the end, the Hokage had final say on everything. They moved on to the way things worked in the village itself, and finally Anko spoke about what a shinobi's life was really like. The woman was warning Hermione, and she knew it. She understood that Anko was trying to disillusion her before anybody was in this too deep, not understanding that Hermione was already well aware of the reality, though she wasn't sure yet how she'd deal with knowing that Kakashi was out on a mission and in danger without being able to go along with him like she did with Harry and Ron. Even if she barely knew Kakashi at all, she didn't like the idea of him going out on missions and possibly dying, but she understood that he was highly competent and that her presence might actually kill him, rather than save him. It didn't mean that she had to like it, though.

That afternoon, she and Anko went their separate ways after Anko led her to the market and showed her how to haggle properly. At least she'd managed to get enough food for the next week, less if she made more than one meal a day for Kakashi as well.

When she was finally alone in the apartment, Hermione opened the package. There was a relatively short letter-apparently Harry was still chaffing at the limitations Dumbledore had placed upon him and had finally received his OWL results. He'd forwarded copies of his and Ron's results along with Hermione's own sealed results and book list-which Dumbledore had supplied early-since the Ministry and Hogwarts owls weren't capable of delivering to somebody on another continent-let alone another world.

For a moment, she considered writing of her marriage, and then she decided against doing so. She'd tell everybody after Professor McGonagall got back to her. She wrote a letter which spoke of the dueling tournament she and Luna had attended-Hermione decided it was the best way to explain the Chunin Exams-along with a few brief paragraphs about the people she'd met and a transcription of her OWL results. Hermione went outside and a moment later Hedwig landed on her shoulder. She tied the letter to the owl's leg and sent her off.

Hermione had received eleven OWLs. She wasn't sure how she felt about the results, other than that at least she'd be able to pick whatever NEWT level classes she wanted to attend unimpeded. The Exceeds Expectations in Defense had been a bit of a disappointment, but she had received Outstandings in the other ten subjects. She'd need to talk to Kakashi about what books his clan had available. At least, she supposed, she'd only need to take the particularly difficult classes or classes that she thought she might need to survive the war. Or perhaps just classes that covered subjects she wouldn't be able to learn in Konoha. Maybe a combination of all three would be best. She had until September second to decide anyway.

For lack of a better idea, Hermione went back to the apartment and began to work on the quilt. She carefully trimmed down the two cloths for the top so that it matched the bottom and the sides were straight, plus a centimeter on each side. The top was sewn into one large block before anything else. Then she cut out the appliqué mountains and stream following the pattern she and Luna had decided on. If she were sewing the quilt by hand or using a sewing machine, Hermione would have sewn the mountains on before sewing the top together. As she was using magic, she pinned the cloth together and set the needle to work with magic. It took a bit longer than usual because she sewed each seam twice, for added strength. Then she pinned the mountain range and stream onto the quilt and set the needle to sew them on using a satin embroidery stitch in various shades of blue, gray and white thread. Unsurprisingly, by the time to sun set, she'd only finished what she'd prepared. With a mental shrug she packed her sewing away and continued her reading.

That night, Hermione stirred only long enough to notice Kakashi enter the apartment through the window once more and check it was him before rolling over and going back to sleep. He was gone before she awoke in the morning. She found a note that said he'd been changed to the morning shift and that he'd be back around four thirty that afternoon.

Hermione bit her lip for a moment, before making herself an omelet for breakfast. At least she'd have a chance to speak to him this afternoon. Grabbing her banjo and writing materials she set up on the couch. She was feeling inspired and might as well compose a song or two. In the end, she managed to set already written ballads for Ginny's experience with the diary and for the Marauders, betrayed by one the trusted, to music, and started on a song detailing Sirius's false imprisonment, escape, and death. It was surprisingly cathartic and the banjo was the perfect instrument for the songs. She'd present them to Ginny and Harry-perhaps the last two to Remus as well-when she got back to the UK and see what they thought of them then.

About two hours before Kakashi was supposed to be back, she took out her sewing and cut out the tree trunks and the green cloth to make a forest. She pinned the trunks and greenery in place and set the needle to sewing them down, once more with a satin stitch in shades of green and brown. Next would be the field of wild flowers. The last thing she would do before sewing the layers of the quilt together was the appliqué and embroidered animals. Although in all fairness, she still wasn't sure what animals she'd use. She'd found a good, almost invisible thread that she'd use to sew the layers together discretely.

Once the needle was set to sewing, Hermione began to make dinner. She wasn't going to let Kakashi escape this time. They had things they needed to speak about and neither her squeamishness nor his avoidance would get in the way this time.

When she went to the bathroom about an hour after she began cooking, Hermione found herself unsure of what to feel. She changed her underwear and found a pad before washing the blood from her old set of panties. She was still somewhat irregular, which was normal for witches until they either reached their mid-twenties or had their first child according to both Penny and Madam Pomfrey and hadn't known whether or not she was ovulating when she and Kakashi had consummated their marriage. She supposed she knew now. At least the pain killers she took for her cursed wound kept her from feeling the headache she always got during this time of the month.

She resisted the urge to cry to the best of her abilities, instead focusing on cooking, although she did discreetly wipe away a tear or two. Hermione had thought that she didn't really want a child, but the way she felt now was giving her second thoughts.

By the time Kakashi came in through the window, which was apparently customary for him, Hermione was putting the finishing touches on the meal. She'd been regularly waking up at dawn, and eating supper at five instead of six or seven didn't bother her all that much. The sewing had been put away ten minutes prior-she didn't want it to get lost or dirty. While she waited for Kakashi to shower and change-judging by the sound of running water, she set the table.

It had been a bit difficult to decide what to make, considering that people used chopsticks instead of knives and forks in this area of this world, but she'd eventually decided on something that would hopefully be easy enough to eat. And that he would hopefully like. Hermione wasn't comfortable with trying so hard to please Kakashi, but understood that making him a good, tasty dinner would hopefully put him in a good sort of mood for the conversation that evening.

"Supper will be ready in five minutes," Hermione commented when Kakashi left the bedroom. "If you could retrieve the juice from the refrigerator, I would appreciate it."

"Juice?" he asked.

"Honestly? I thought it might be best to avoid anything alcoholic for a little bit. But I did find beer in the back of the fridge when I cleaned it out if you'd prefer that instead."

He nodded his understanding and took a beer and the jug of grape juice from the refrigerator and placed them on the small kitchen table.

"What did you make?"

"Baked ziti and salad," she explained, taking the casserole dish from the oven with over mitts and putting a cookie sheet of snickerdoodles into the oven.

She was honestly surprised to have found the needed cheeses at the market. But it had been easy enough to make her own noodles and tomato sauce with ground mutton, mushrooms, peppers and onions in it from scratch. Hermione set a timer for the cookies and then took the casserole dish to the table, careful to set it on the mats she'd placed there. She placed a salad on the table and poured herself a cup of juice before putting it away and sitting down across from Kakashi.

"What is baked ziti," asked Kakashi, even as he served himself a large ladle full of the vaguely penne shaped noodles.

"Just noodles baked in a cheese and tomato meat sauce," she explained, serving herself. "Which reminds me, I need to tell you what I told Anko-san about the enclave."

He nodded and listened quietly to her quick explanation. He was halfway done with his serving of baked ziti when he commented, "That was a sensible explanation."

Hermione shrugged. "It was the best I could come up with on short notice and I thought refusing to say anything would have made her more suspicious than sticking with the Statute of Secrecy too closely." She paused, "Do you want me to make you something tonight so that you have breakfast or maybe lunch as well waiting for you when you get up?"

Kakashi nodded after a moment of thought. It looked a little silly with his cloth mask hanging around his neck, but she said nothing about that. "Nothing that needs to be reheated for lunch. And no heating charms or other spells on the food."

"No problem," she agreed easily enough. "I don't know what you usually do for food-go out to eat, I assume-but can we talk about a food budget for the rest of the summer? I still have most of the money from playing at the tea house. I was planning on using it to pay for my school books so that Penny didn't have to-apprentices don't make all that much-but I could use it to help with household expenses."

"You don't need to use your money," said Kakashi, almost sounding affronted. (1)

"I didn't mean to offend you; I just wanted to know about a food budget."

She used the timer going off as an excuse to leave the table. She put the cookie tray on top of the counter and turned off the oven before returning to the table.

"I'll set aside four hundred ryo a week for food," suggested Kakashi after a moment of thought. "And I can pay for your school books and supplies."

"I-thank you. I would appreciate that," she agreed. She wasn't sure how much a ryo would be worth in pounds, but the amount he suggested would buy roughly seventy five pounds worth of food. More if she bargained well. It was appropriate considering that the country used a ten day long week and a lunar calendar instead of a seven day week like in the calendar she was used to. "If you're going to pay for my school supplies, you'll need to change your ryo into gold, silver, or jewels so that I can exchange it for the local money. There isn't exactly an exchange rate for ryo in the UK." (2)

"Aa," he said in acknowledgement.

"Alright, I know that my words bothered you, and I'm not sure why," explained Hermione. "I'd appreciate it if you'd explain it to me."

Kakashi blinked at her for a moment, as though she were an alien being before understanding filtered through his visible eye. "Unless the wife is the only person in the household capable of and willing to work, the husband, or another male relative is expected to support the family. I'd forgotten that according to Chihiro-basan, Wizarding women tend to be more independent than even most kunoichi."

"Oh. I didn't mean to call into question your ability to support your-our, family. It's just that among Muggles these days, unless a woman specifically chooses to be a house wife or she's recently given birth, she's expected to contribute to household expenses at the very least," she explained. Men tended to get touchy when they were implied to be lacking in some way, unintentionally or not. "I'm not sure about the Pureblood families, but most Halfblood and Muggle-Born families work the same way as Muggle."

A short nod was the only reply. "I heard you received an owl yesterday."

Hermione smiled. "Harry sent me a letter and forwarded my OWL results and book list for next year to me. I haven't decided which classes to take yet."

"What did you receive?"

"I got eleven OWLs. Ten Outstandings and an Exceeds Expectations in Defense Against the Dark Arts." She shrugged, understanding why her score had been so low. "I'm not the best in a fight. It happens so quickly and I think too much about what to do."

"What did you receive an Outstanding in?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Healing," she explained.

"What does the healing course cover?"

"The Healing course is essentially a first aid course given by the school's medi-witch; Madam Pomfrey. She was a medic on the front lines of both the war with Grindelwald and with Tom. Worked for the Hitwizards between the wars. I know enough to make you and Maito-san some healing potions before I leave for school if you want. And I can diagnose injuries, heal most cuts and bruises, stitch wounds closed and I know how to heal broken bones once they've been set. I'm learning to set bones and heal internal bleeding, but I wouldn't trust my skills at that yet. I've already decided to take it at the NEWT level-it's too useful not to take, but I haven't decided on anything else yet." (3)

"Do you need any potions supplies?"

"I'll need to get a list of potions to make together before I know. My kit is pretty well stocked-I helped Penny make potions before I left for the summer. I can tell you what I need after you get off work tomorrow-if you're working the same shift?"

"I'm on this shift for the next two days before I go on night shift for three days and then one day on afternoon shift. I have a day off after that," he explained.

From what Hermione understood, the village staggered the days off so that they had roughly the same number of shinobi within the village and particularly in ANBU working at any given time. It was kept irregular to throw off the enemy, which meant that Kakashi might have a day off, and then eighteen days-or almost two weeks-straight of work before he had his next day off, although the village tried to avoid that.

She nodded her understanding. At least she knew what to expect. "I sew using magic-it's quicker than by hand and stronger than machine sewing. If I did that while you were trying to sleep, would it bother you or not?"

"Aa. What are you making?"

At least she knew before she attempted it. "I'm making a new quilt. The quilt on the bed is very well made, but it looks like it might start falling apart at any moment. I can show you what I already have made after supper, if you want. And if you want me to do any mending, just tell me and I'll take care of it."

"Are you ever still?"

Hermione let out a harsh laugh and shook her head. "I haven't been able to stay still in years. I can't. I just-I can't. Not since the basilisk."

"The basilisk? From three years ago? Weren't you just petrified?"

"Yes and no. I was aware. All of us were. I could see and think and smell and hear and feel, the entire time. I can't… I need to move." She shrugged. "I'm not as bad off as some. Colin still has panic attacks and Justin has terrible flashbacks. The last time somebody caught Penny in a body bind, her magic reacted so violently that everybody else in the room needed a visit to the healer by the time they freed her."

"Could you knit or do some sort of needlework without magic while I sleep?"

He had accepted her words so easily, and part of Hermione could not help but wonder why. And then she remembered that he was essentially a career soldier. He likely knew more about torture, and post traumatic stress and all its variations that she did.

"Of course. I might be done with the quilt by then anyway. And that reminds me, I wanted to make new sheets and pillow cases for the bed as well."

He shrugged. "Two or three foot deep snow storms are common in winter and the temperature regularly stays bellow freezing."

"Alright. I can knit an afghan or two while I'm at school and if you want, I can make you some winter wear as well." She shrugged. "I was thinking of taking up crochet-Luna taught me ages ago-and crocheted blankets can be made relatively quickly."

She gathered the plates and put them in the sink before covering the pan of ziti and putting on the counter to cool. She took the cookies off the metal sheet and placed them on two plates. "Desert. They're snickerdoodles. Cinnamon-sugar covered sugar cookies."

He took a bite and then nodded. "They're good. Did you use the money I gave you yesterday for the quilt?" At her shake of the head, he said, "I'll set aside an extra three hundred ryo for bedding and whatever yarn or thread you wanted to get."

She nodded. That would be more than enough for her purposes. "Thank you. I'll get started on that tomorrow." She could have several needles going at once, although unfortunately the nature of the spell meant that only one needle could work on a piece of cloth at a time. The sheets could easily be made in a day or so. "I want to talk to you about our marriage."

Kakashi tilted his head like a curious dog. "What about it?"

"I don't know." She began to babble, "Are we having sex? I'm not even sure if I want to have sex before I return to Scotland. Do you want a child soon or not? What about letters? Because I think I'm going to need to buy an owl if we're to speak regularly. The school owls aren't bred for long distance deliveries and I don't think it would be a good idea to use one from the post office. And-"

"So we'll buy an owl. Neither Gai nor I bothered to keep owls because we had no one to send letters to."

"And the other things."

"I don't think whether or not I want to have a child matters unless you want to have sex," he pointed out. "Unless you use one of those teas that prevent conception."

Hermione shook her head. "It would take longer for the tea to kick in and start working than I'm supposed to stay here for." She was curious about what it would be like without the issues that virginity presented, although until her period was over, she wasn't interested. "Isn't there another form of contraception around here? Like condoms."

Kakashi shook his head. "There are condoms made from sheep intestine."

"Ew. No, just no," she said, crinkling her nose in disgust. "And I repeat, no."

He laughed a bit before sobering. "Do you want a child?"

"I do. But I don't know if I'm ready to have one yet. And all I can think about is what my enemies would do if I had a child." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "All I can think about is how easily they hunted down and murdered entire families during the last war. And being an infant wouldn't protect the child, being pregnant would offer me no protection. All it would do was paint a large target on my back. Larger than the one already on it. Except if I don't survive the war, I'll have left nothing of myself behind."

"Most Jonin have prices on their heads," he pointed out. "If somebody were to attack a Konoha shinobi's civilian family… for that ANBU kills every man, woman, and child in the attacker's immediate family. It has proved an effective deterrent over the decades."

"I heard about that Kumo nin who tried to kidnap the Hyuga heiress."

"That was a politically complicated situation," he admitted, understanding her unvoiced question. "It would have been far simpler had the shinobi tried to kill the girl."

"I understand what you're trying to say." She let out a sigh. "I want a baby so bad, but I'm scared. I-I'm terrified. I don't know how Ron or Harry's parents could have had them during the last war. We had a baby boom during the last three years of the war. All those people having babies because they were afraid that if they didn't, they would never have the opportunity to do so." She shook her head. "There are forty-thirty nine, now-of us in my year, and of that thirty nine, thirteen lost one or both parents during the war."

"You'll be spending much of the year at Hogwarts," he pointed out.

"I know." Hermione had to admit that if she didn't go looking for trouble with Harry and Ron, she would have been able to avoid a good eighty percent of the life threatening danger she'd ended up in over the years. "And I suppose I'll be spending next summer here as well, and I don't see the war spilling over to the village. Ever. Can you give me some time to think about it?"

Kakashi nodded. "You mentioned something about your classes."

"Right, so I've been trying to decide which classes to take. I was thinking about limiting it to the most difficult classes, the most useful, and what I can't learn while I'm here," she explained. "It's not like I'll be trying to find a job, other than as a musician so that shouldn't be taken into consideration."

"You're taking Healing?" He paused, then continued at her nod. "You like Arithmancy and Ancient Runes would be good. As would Care of Magical Creatures. Supernatural beings are more common here, from what I've been told. Do you have any difficulties making potions when you already have the directions in front of you?"

Hermione shook her head, even as she made notes. "I can make any of the healing potions I've seen and I successfully made Polyjuice Potion years ago."

"Polyjuice Potion? There's no point in continuing to take the class then. All it would do is teach you why potions work."

"How do you know this?" she asked.

"Chihiro-basan, my father's younger sister and Gai's mother attended Beaubatons during the late sixties, early seventies. She died seven years ago, during the Kyuubi attack. She received twelve NEWTS."

"I'm sorry for your loss. She sounded like an amazing person." Hermione was rather impressed by the woman's accomplishments. "I have to say, I've never heard of anyone willingly sitting for twelve NEWTS. So I guess there's no point in taking Potions."

"Aa. Defense at the NEWT level concentrates on dueling and casting silently and motionlessly. Between us, Gai and I can teach you how to cast silently, motionless, and wandlessly in the next month," he explained. "Dueling is a useless skill."

After a moment's thought, she nodded. "Thank you. I'll take you up on the offer, but I still want to buy the texts for the class just in case it covers something useful."

He nodded. "I'd suggest taking Transfiguration and Charms. Neither Gai nor I will have the time to teach it to you as well."

"Alright, so Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Healing, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Charms," she said. "I think I'd like to take Herbology as well. No Astronomy. That's just useless. And I can learn anything I'd study in History of Magic from the text, so I might just buy that and read it during my free time instead."

"You were saying something about a quilt."

Hermione nodded. "Give me a minute." She put the last of the dirty plates in the sink and waved her wand, setting it to scrub itself clean and then dry itself with a kitchen towel. It wasn't like there was a dishwasher in the apartment and she had no intention of standing there and washing all the dishes by hand.

She pulled the bag out from behind the couch and pulled out the top, which had most of the trunks and greenery sewed in place. "This is just the top. And I still haven't put in the flowers in the meadow or any of the animals I intended to add."

"How long did this take you?"

"Including settling on a pattern? Three days. I should be done within the week. Let me show you the sewing spell I use." She waved her wand and set the needle to sewing once again. "It can only sew using my skill level and stitches I already know how to make, but it's much easier and more even than hand sewing."

"It rather looks like the Forest of Death."

"Is that anything like the Forbidden Forest next to Hogwarts Castle? Because that's what Luna and I modeled it after. We even including the mountains around the valley and Hogsmeade River. I'm only putting in animals native to the Forbidden Forest like acromantula and unicorns and hippogriffs. Although I'm still trying to decide whether or not to include thestrals. They're cute, but they're death omens so it might be too morbid."

"Thestrals?" He gave her a disbelieving look.

"Hogwarts has a herd of them. They're rather gentle, actually. I rode one across the country during the Department of Mysteries debacle."

"The hazards are different, but the Forest of Death has similar dangers." He paused, in thought. "Will the needle keep working if you're using magic for something else?"

Hermione nodded. "It should."

"I'll give you your first wandless magic lesson then."

The wandless magic lesson was exhausting, but since she already knew how to make balls of fire along with a handful of other techniques wandlessly, it was easier than it would have been otherwise. All she managed to do was figure out how to move objects with her mind, but according to Kakashi that was amazing progress for one lesson and during the next, he'd help her begin with wandless transfiguration.

Kakashi had claimed that silent and motionless casting was mostly mental, and that she could practice it on her own while he was at work, so he would mostly teach her wandless magic during his free time. Given how quickly she'd picked it up during the hour they'd practiced, she was inclined to agree with his assessment.

He'd gone to bed about an hour after starting her lesson, so Hermione had stopped the needle and put her sewing away before heading back to the kitchen and making two simple but large meals for Kakashi's breakfast and lunch, along with using her grandmother's recipe to make flapjack bars using oats, walnuts, dried apricots, and honey along with several other ingredients so that Kakashi had snacks available between meals. She wasn't sure how well it would turn out without brown sugar, but the taste she'd taken of the batter had been rather good. Hermione carefully put his breakfast in the fridge and labeled it before doing the same for the lunch and the flapjacks. She intended to keep a couple of the bars in the house for herself, and hoped he wouldn't take it all.

Once that was done, she washed everything by hand before going to take a sponge bath. She'd wash her hair the next day, she decided, and just brushed the mass of curls out and leaving it loose. Her hair looked ridiculously bushy, but she'd found that her hair faired better when left loose than when braided or put in a bun while she slept.

It was when Hermione went to join Kakashi in bed that she found herself suddenly nervous. It had been so easy before. She'd gone to bed before him and whether or not he'd joined her had been out of her hands entirely. Now, he was in the bed and it was her choice. She was being ridiculous, she knew. It wasn't like she could, or even should go out into the living room and sleep on the couch. With a mental growl, Hermione forced herself to walk over and pull the blanket back so she could slip into the bed. She caught him opening his eyes for a second before Kakashi rolled over, taking Hermione with him so that she was once more against the wall and he on the outside. She gave a mental shrug and snuggled with Crookshanks when the cat crawled onto the bed.

* * *

(1) Alright, so an explanation. Naruto's entire world is completely confusing and makes no sense culturally or socially, so I've been going with the flow. However I decided that it would be best to make it far more conservative than modern Japan. Admittedly, kunoichi are more independent than civilian women, but they're still more in keeping with a woman during the 1950s or early 60s than a modern woman. And yes, Hermione actually managed to accidentally offend the ever unflappable Kakashi. She implied that he was incapable of, or unwilling to support his family, which was understandably insulting. And he was probably reminded of his father's dishonor and the way the village treated him before his suicide, although Hermione doesn't know that.

(2) Alright, so money seems a bit odd. A ryo is worth ten yen in the manga. But that doesn't mean that a ryo is worth ten modern yen, hence the relative value of the ryo in my story. In this case, 5.3 ryo to a pound or 2.6 ryo to a dollar.

(3) For some unknown reason, Hermione received eleven OWLs when she was only taking ten subjects, which meant that either she sat for an OWL in Muggle Studies or Divination, or she took an elective which wasn't mentioned in the book. I decided to have Poppy Pomfrey offer an elective course that was outside of the norm. And well, I sort of vilified her in a previous story, so in this one she's completely badass, even if it's subtle.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Don't expect regular updates after this week for obvious reasons.

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

Hermione was by far the most confusing woman Kakashi had ever met. In many ways, she reminded him of Maito Chihiro, who had raised him and Gai almost entirely on her own, as both his father and his uncle had often been out of the village on missions, and later taken him in after his father committed seppuku. Kakashi didn't remember his mother; Hatake Eriko had died of tuberculosis when he was only two years old and after that, Chihiro had been his mother in every way that mattered.

Chihiro had been a strong, independent woman. Indeed, more independent than most kunoichi were. Yet she'd still deferred to her husband or her brother in most instances. Hermione, on the other hand, was as independent as any man Kakashi could think of. Hermione didn't advertise it, but she deferred to him only because she was in an unfamiliar land and was at least somewhat aware of the local views on women, not because she thought it her place. Yet somehow, Hermione was more feminine in her actions and mannerisms than almost any kunoichi he could think of. Perhaps, he supposed, because unlike most of them, she was not playing a part. He knew, on an intellectual level that she came from a society where men and women were equal under the eyes of the law-he remembered that much from what Chihiro had taught him-but knowing and experiencing were two entirely different things.

Kakashi could honestly admit that he didn't mind all that much. A more traditional civilian woman would have driven him insane. Kakashi had never seen the appeal in those weak, simpering creatures called civilian women with all their ideas of what a ninja really was. Unfortunately, there really weren't enough kunoichi to go around. Most of the appropriate kunoichi he knew were either married or in relationships. The rest he'd simply gone on too many missions with to consider anything other than a comrade.

He knew that Gai had purposefully steered the conversation to ensure that both he and Hermione had shared enough about themselves to feel relatively comfortable with each other, just as he knew that Gai had spent the evening subtly questioning to girl. It was not until Gai was safely away on a mission that Kakashi had found out that the man had questioned the Akimichi about Hermione after seeing her in the tea house before speaking first to Chiriku of the Ninja Guardian Twelve and then Chiriku's uncle; Xenophilius Lovegood. Both men had been so distracted by Gai's act-which was modeled after his childhood hero, Bruce Lee-that they'd not realized until after Hermione and Kakashi had married that Gai had been inquiring after her. Whatever they had told him had obviously made an impression if he'd been willing to go through the trouble of marrying the woman off to Kakashi.

Some people might think that Gai was an obsessive idiot, but Kakashi knew that his cousin was just as intelligent as he was, even if he hid it better. At least, Kakashi supposed, he knew that Gai did not wish him harm. For Gai to have essentially arranged this marriage-in an admittedly underhanded and very shinobi like manner-the man must obviously have believed that Hermione would be a good match.

It was because of this that he wasn't insisting on a divorce, Wizarding law be damned. He trusted Gai. He knew that Gai would do right by both Kakashi and the clan-the Maito family being a branch of the Hatake clan thanks to some rather fierce negotiation between Maito Jin and Hatake Sakumo before Jin had married Chihiro-just as he knew that Gai would never have done this to Hermione if he believed that it wasn't in the woman's best interest as well.

Hermione was far more intelligent than she claimed to be. Kakashi would hesitate to call her a genius-that word was thrown about far too easily, but he'd never met a civilian woman-even a civilian with a kekkei genkai, any kekkei genkai-who'd taught themselves to sense chakra before. He'd never met somebody who'd taught themselves to generate balls of fire without previous lessons on using chakra before Hermione either. She was a natural chakra sensor at the very least, when her skill at creating new spells was added to the mix. Only a chakra sensor would be able to modify and create jutsu like Hermione.

Hermione was very skilled with manipulating chakra, even with the handicap of using a wand for the previous five years. In the opinion of Chihiro and his father, wizards used wands partially because they were lazy and partially because the various governments insisted upon it. It was a way to control the Wizarding population. If a person didn't know how to use their magic without channeling it through a wand, they could easily be controlled by taking said wand away.

In all fairness, Hermione shouldn't need to know how to protect herself without a wand. She was a civilian, after all. But Kakashi understood as most shinobi did that terrible things happened to civilians living in peaceful countries, let alone countries in the middle of civil war as the United Kingdom's Wizarding Enclave was. So he'd agreed to teach her to use wandless magic along with what she would have learned for Defense on a NEWT level. At least this way he knew she'd learn what she needed to know properly. He'd been able to read between the lines well enough to pick up on her lack of adequate self defense training and the erratic defense professors from what she'd said in the bar. He'd prefer it if she were to just stay in Konoha, but understood that she'd never even considered such an action. At least, he supposed, she'd implied to Anko that she believed she'd live in Konoha once the war was over, assuming she survived although her words had been carefully couched in other, more acceptable phrases.

After realizing what Gai had done, he'd come to view Hermione was family, pack. The Hatake's had long held the dog summoning contract along with a minor kekkei genkai that gave them enhanced senses which had combined surprisingly well with the abilities Mary Hitchens, the only surviving offspring of Isla and Bob Hitchens, had brought with her when she'd married into the clan. Although it had enhanced the Hatake pack mentality slightly.

In the break room in Hokage Tower reserved for on duty ANBU he opened the cloth wrapped package containing his lunch, although midnight snack was perhaps more appropriate a term. There were three thermoses, two slightly warm to the touch, the other a little cold. Hermione had packed him soup along with tea and juice to drink. In what had started out as a bento box was a sandwich, along with a small container of peanut butter and a mixture of celery and carrot sticks. There were carefully wrapped cookies she'd called snickerdoodles. Finally there was a package of four oat bars with dried fruit and nuts in it, in case he was hungry or running low on chakra later.

One advantage of letting Hermione put together meals for him it seemed was that even if the food was completely foreign-and it wasn't-each meal so far was carefully designed with an active shinobi who regularly used chakra in mind. Only the restaurants that catered specifically to shinobi could claim to do the same, and even then, those restaurants had no idea how to properly feed somebody with magic. The simple fact of the matter was that wizards needed more sugar in their diet thanks to the way their magic worked than a normal shinobi even consider eating.

"What is that?" asked Yugao, his team's iryo-nin.

"Lunch," he said boredly.

"I can see that," she pointed out. "But what is it?"

"A ham sandwich and chicken noodle soup," he said in English, for the hell of it.

Until the night before he'd not had western food since Chihiro's death. Kakashi had forgotten just how fond of it he was. He'd have to ask Hermione if she knew how to make a soufflé as well.

* * *

Kakashi was gone when she awoke the next morning. Hermione shrugged it off and decided to head to the market immediately after breakfast. She was examining a bolt of cotton when a familiar figure walked into her favorite cloth merchant's store.

"Natsumi-san," Hermione called out softly.

"Hermione-san," said the woman. "I thought you would have left the village already."

"No. I'm a citizen now," she explained, walking over to her former employer.

"How did that happen?"

"I got married," she explained sheepishly. "To Hatake Kakashi."

"I'd heard he'd married some foreign woman. This I need to hear."

Hermione blushed. "We were drunk. Anyway, I'll be in the village for about two and a half weeks before I need to head back to my clan and I should be returning next summer. I have responsibilities to my clan I can't get out of."

"So what are you doing here?" asked Natsumi, changing the subject.

"I'm making a new quilt and I thought I'd make two new sets of sheets while I was at it. I don't know how long Kakashi-kun's had his bedding, but it's nearly worn out. What about you, if I might be so bold?"

"My son needs some new clothing for the Academy."

"Ah."

"So what were you thinking about?"

Hermione pulled out the bundle of scrap cloth. "Just something in cotton that matches one or more of these. I'm leaning toward gray or yellow."

The duo spoke of her son, who was in his first year at the academy and her daughter; Moegi, who was visiting with Natsumi's mother that morning before moving on to this new pregnancy. By the time it was roughly nine in the morning, Hermione had the appropriate cotton for the sheets and enough yarn for two blankets. She was thinking a knit blanket in a solid color and a granny square blanket as many colors as she could.

Hermione really only knew a handful of people in the village and had no idea who to speak to or who would welcome her presence since Natsumi had duties of her own to take care of, so she spent her day with only Crookshanks for company. It was actually rather nice to be able to practice her recorder and other instruments in peace while the various needles sewed cloth as appropriate. She had managed to cut out and pin one set of sheets, including a top sheet, a bottom sheet, and four pillow cases in a soft, pale gray and set two needles to sew the various hems before she went back to the quilt, finishing up the forest and then adding appliqué flowers and stems in various shades along with perhaps a dozen embroidered flowers. She decided to leave the quilt there and worry about what animals to add the next day.

Around noon, she put everything away except for the pillow cases, which she was only beginning to hem and went to look up what she needed to do to make healing potions for Kakashi and Gai. They needed to be as perfect as she could make them. In all fairness, Kakashi and Gai probably didn't need them, but it was the only thing she could really do to help either man stay alive while she was at school. She had managed to make a list of needed ingredients by the end of the day, although she thought some of it might not be native to the area. At least she had most of what she needed.

After supper that evening Kakashi keyed her in to the apartment's wards with a bit of her blood and taught her how to control them mentally in case she needed to. The entire ward scheme was rather disturbing and Hermione found herself understanding rather well why it had so impressed Luna. Apparently only Kakashi, Gai, Kakashi's ninken-whatever those were-and now Hermione were permitted to enter the apartment at all unless given permission to enter through the front door. If a person attempted to break in, the wards knocked them unconscious. If they attempted to force their way into the apartment a second time, the wards would disable the person's chakra network for a week as well. If that same person attempted to force their way into the apartment a third time, the wards would react with lethal force. And that was at a normal setting. If the ward scheme was set to high alert, it would take any attempt at entering the apartment as an attack and react lethally to anybody other than those keyed into it or already within the apartment with permission. It was almost identical to the wards on Grimauld place, although with no Muggle repelers or fidelus charm.

He didn't bother with wandless magic that night, instead explaining the basics of silent, motionless casting. Apparently there wasn't enough time to practice wandless magic before he went to bed and he thought it too dangerous for her to learn without supervision. Hermione would have objected, but the year she'd spent as a prefect had shown her quite well the consequences of dilettantes playing with forces they didn't understand. It was always stressful keeping the first years from accidentally killing themselves by attempting to brew a potion too advanced for them or when they lost control of their spells. At least silent, motionless casting wouldn't do anything unexpected to her spell casting, even if she botched the spell.

When Hermione awoke the next morning, Kakashi was already gone, as was normal. She cleaned the apartment and then sat down to finish the quilt. Hermione set the needle to embroider the animals she'd chosen onto the top of the quilt. When that was done around noon, she put aside her cittern to pin the appliqué animals in place and then sew them down, which took a surprisingly short amount of time. Finally she pinned the top, the batting, and the bottom layer of the quilt together and got out the almost invisible thread. She set the needle to sew through all three layers in a simple pattern of vertical lines that ran from the top of the quilt to the bottom. When that was done, she trimmed the edges and then everything was put together before she took five centimeter wide lengths of soft yellow cloth and pinned and wrapped it around the edges of the quilt before sewing it into place. She examined the quilt for imperfections before remaking the bed with her new set of sheets and the new quilt.

When the bed was made, Hermione checked on supper, which was a Lancashire hotpot slowly cooking over the course of the day in the oven before looking in on the lemon meringue pie in the fridge. Hermione wouldn't have bothered to make pie, but she did so love lemon flavored deserts, particularly during that time of the month. While she busied herself in the kitchen, the golden yellow cloth for the second set of sheets faithfully sewed its own hems shut. Hermione didn't want to leave something such as that undone while Kakashi was supposed to sleep during the day for the next couple days.

It was quite apparent that Kakashi was just as skilled at sensing magic, and indeed chakra, as Hermione was, if not more so. Hermione had developed the skill as a survival technique after Sally's death. It had shown her that old prejudices were not forgotten and that she needed to be prepared to defend herself. Kakashi had been a shinobi for a good fifteen years. It was likely that he'd been developing the skill the entire time. Hermione had no trouble believing that Kakashi would sense her using magic in his sleep and that it would keep him awake, or at least subconsciously on alert. Hermione always had trouble sleeping if somebody used magic within about fifty meters of where she was trying to sleep, although she could mostly tune it out if she knew the person well until the magic got within ten meters of her. At least the apartment's wards shielded her, so that she felt safe sleeping there, even with shinobi leaping from roof to roof on a regular basis.

Kakashi looked exhausted after his shower so she served him his supper quietly. What little she'd felt of his magic had Hermione serving him twice what was a normal meal size for a wizard. He was on the verge of magical exhaustion. Part of Hermione wondered what had happened, but she knew enough to know that she shouldn't ask. Kakashi wouldn't be able to tell her what he did while on duty anyway. He blinked a little at her actions, but seemed to shrug it off.

Finally, he broke the silence, "Uchiha Shisui was murdered yesterday. His body was found this morning."

She searched her memory for a moment, only to freeze. "The police officer? He was your friend, wasn't he?"

"His brother was on my Genin team," supplied Kakashi. "Obito died eight years ago."

"I'm so sorry. Do they know who did it yet?"

A short shake of the head was Kakashi's reply. He concentrated on his food for several minutes. "There are signs it was a shinobi. I'll be leaving one of my ninken with you until the Military Police know who did it."

"Ninken? Is that like Inuzuka Hana's little puppies?" she asked.

"A dog summons."

"Oh," she said, wide eyed. "Thank you."

He was serious about protecting her and far more worried about whatever had happened to Shisui than he'd said. She'd only met a couple summons so far, but from what she understood, they were incredibly useful supernatural creatures from other worlds and just as intelligent as any human. She did wonder where he'd found the dog summoning contract, but didn't ask. Now wasn't a good time.

They were silent until she put away the food and pulled out the pie and a pair of forks she'd transfigured earlier in the day. She cut a generous slice for him and a slightly smaller one for herself. He needed the sugars and the calories from the pie. Low blood sugar was a very common side effect from magical exhaustion and people had been known to die from it according to Madam Pomfrey.

"Here, you need to eat this with a fork, not chopsticks." She paused in consideration. "I'm not sure what the custom is here. Should I bring Uchiha-san's family a casserole? It's what we do back home when somebody dies." She bit her lip unsurely.

He shook his head. "It would be inappropriate. Neither you nor I will be attending the funeral. There is… bad blood between the Uchiha and I and I won't force my presence upon them. Shisui-kun was the only one left who still treated me as he would any other."

"Alright," she agreed.

She wasn't sure what that bad blood was, but could guess it had to do with that black and red eye he kept covered. She'd only discovered it was a sharingan that had somehow been transplanted into Kakashi by accident. Hermione wondered if it had anything to do with when Obito died, but chose not to ask. It seemed like it was a touchy subject.

After supper, Kakashi took her out to training ground 12, which was little more than a field surrounded by trees on all sides. She wasn't normally permitted on the training grounds, but according to Anko, if her husband took her to one to practice jutsu, it was technically permitted as it was a clan matter. She'd asked after Anko's talk about shinobi life. The woman had been a little surprised when Hermione had explained that he was just teaching her an advanced fire jutsu, but Hermione wasn't sure why.

Kakashi lounged on a boulder, his copy of the newest Icha Icha out, and explained wandless transfiguration after having her demonstrate her progress in wordless, motionless casting with a simple lumos spell. Once she'd managed a couple first year level spells, he drilled her on casting stunners and protegos wandlessly until she actually managed to perform each three times in a row. Judging by what he was concentrating on, Hermione was inclined to believe that he was far more worried than she'd thought.

By the time the sun had set completely, Kakashi's magic was at least partially recovered, although Hermione intended to make him eat another meal before he went to sleep. He handed her a canteen of water he'd had hidden on his person and told her to rest before standing. He cut the tip of his thumb and formed a series of hand seals.

Hermione stopped short, canteen at her lips as a poof of smoke formed. She forced herself to take a sip of water before putting the cap back on. The smoke cleared in a moment, revealing a mid sized tan and brown dog of indeterminate breed.

"Uh, hello," she said unsurely. She was relatively sure the dog could speak.

"Who's that?"

"That's Hermione-chan. She's a member of the pack. It's your mission to guard her," he explained. "Hermione-chan, this is Bisuke."

"It's nice to meet you," she said, barely remembering her manners.

The dog trotted over and began to sniff her skirts and then crotch. It was all she could do not to push Bisuke away. It seemed that dogs were still dogs, no matter how smart or magical they were. He sat down next to her after a moment.

"You Kakashi's mate?" asked Bisuke.

"I'm his wife," she explained.

"Civilian?"

"Aa. She's a witch."

That seemed to satisfy the dog. "What am I looking for?"

"A shinobi killed Uchiha Shisui," explained Kakashi. There was no emotion in his voice at all and Hermione couldn't quite stop the shiver that went down her spine. "We believe it was one of our own. There's no sign an enemy shinobi was or is in the village." He turned to Hermione. "Stay under the wards as much as possible."

"Alright." The situation was far more serious than she'd originally assumed.

The group headed back into the village. Although Kakashi meandered along, his head in a book, he navigated the crowds with ease. He wasn't emitting killing intent-and really, killing intent was a sign of lack of control, not skill, no matter what these shinobi might think-but there was something about him that seemed to discourage one or two people who looked like they might have otherwise wanted to speak to the man.

Back at the apartment, Hermione managed to convince Kakashi to have an apple and a second slice of pie before she went to bed. A moment after she lay down, Crookshanks hopped onto the windowsill to sleep and Bisuke stretched out against her side, cold nose pressed into her armpit. Kakashi had said something about staying up late because he intended to sleep until a couple hours before he went on duty.

* * *

When Hermione awoke, she was once more between Kakashi and the wall. She crawled out of the bed and took care of her morning ablutions before heading to the kitchen, Bisuke faithfully trotting after her.

"Do you want some of the kibble?" she asked as she put together some oatmeal for herself. At his affirmative sound, Hermione set out a bowl of dog food.

Deciding she might as well ask, Hermione said, "Bisuke, do you know why Kakashi-kun keeps moving me so I'm against the wall when we sleep?"

"Kakashi's a good alpha," explained the dog. "Guess you wouldn't understand. Cats don't have packs. He puts himself between you and any danger from the window or the door when you're both asleep and vulnerable."

"Oh," she said. "I didn't know that. Uh, could you keep the cat thing quiet? There're only a handful of people who know I'm an animagus and I'm trying to keep it that way. I don't mind if you tell the rest of the pack, I think they'd know anyway."

"Got it."

"Thank you."

Being an animagus was only really useful if it wasn't public knowledge. It allowed her an easy escape and a way to discreetly spy on others if need be. Not to mention that Luna would be put out if she learned that a dog figured out what sort of animagus Hermione was before she did. Although Hermione was beginning to wonder if Luna's wild guesses were just made for the hell of it.

"So, I'm going to be making medical potions most of the day," explained Hermione. Kakashi had told her of a shop which should have everything she needed for the potions that wasn't already in her kit. "But I need to run an errand before I can do that."

Once breakfast was done, Hermione and Bisuke went to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. It was simple to gather a couple bundles of flowering herbs before she had to go over to the counter. Hermione gave the blonde man behind the counter a shy smile as he glanced at Bisuke and then up at her.

"Can I help you, Hatake-san?" asked the man.

"Yes, thank you. I have most of the things on my list," she explained. She wasn't sure why she'd been sent here rather than to an apothecary, but trusted that Kakashi knew what he was talking about. "But I still need asphodel root, scurvy-grass, sneezewort, monkshood, and knotgrass. Kakashi-kun said that I should be able to find those here."

"Medical grade?"

She gave a short nod.

"How much of each?"

Hermione gave a rough estimate of what she needed and then waited patiently while he went to the back of the shop. A couple minutes later, he returned with what she'd asked for. Hermione took the time to examine the plants before nodding.

"Thank you, Yamanaka-san," she said. "This should be it."

"You make your own medicines?" he asked, wrapping the various plants in paper.

She nodded. "My cousin's an apprentice Healer. She made sure I knew how to run a proper stillroom." She chose to use the old term for a distillery attached to a home, rather than reference something more modern. He probably wouldn't know anything about Wizarding potions and even if he did, she couldn't speak to him about potion labs.

"Healer?"

"She's learning to use chakra to heal, but has no combat training."

The man nodded. "Tough skill set."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I couldn't do it. I don't know how she manages. Do you mind if I seal this all up into a scroll here?"

"Go ahead."

"Thanks." She pulled out a scroll and a quill and quickly wrote out the rune array. "Have a good day, Yamanaka-san."

Hermione paid and left before heading to the market to do some grocery shopping while she was out. It was mid morning by the time she got back to the apartment. After putting the food away, Hermione began the process of making potions.

Her days settled into a relatively predicable pattern. After breakfast she made potions-considering how many were on her list, she'd be lucky if she managed to finish it all in a week; a local ten day week at that-before settling in to knit or crochet while Kakashi slept. Hermione took regular breaks to make meals with enough left over so that Kakashi had proper meals ready and waiting in the kitchen. While he was on night shift, Hermione ate supper with Kakashi at six, although it was breakfast for him. After that he spent about an hour working on her wandless magic with her before heading in to work. It was only after he left that Hermione practiced her instruments, understanding that it would be unfair of her to practice while he was trying to rest. When she awoke, he was already asleep, leaving her almost no time to spend with the man.

On the last day Kakashi was on night shift that week, Hermione was waiting patiently for when he awoke. After supper, she approached him.

"Uh, Kakashi-kun, I need your help," she said nervously.

He tilted his head to look at her over his book.

"You know I was hit by that curse about two months ago? It's time for my stitches to come out, but I can't do it to myself." It was a bit embarrassing to ask this of Kakashi, but Luna wasn't there, and neither was Penny. It was either him, or doing it herself, and Hermione simply couldn't force herself to do so. "I don't know why, but trying to take my own stitches out makes me nauseous."

Kakashi put down the book. "Do you have scissors?"

She handed the proper equipment to the man, trying to ignore the thought that maybe Kakashi took his own stitches out with household scissors, and turned around. She undid the buttons of her shirt and took off her bra, before pulling the shirt back into place so that it at least covered her breasts, even if it was completely open. Hermione turned back around. She allowed Kakashi to push her so she lay down on the floor.

He began with the stitches along her shoulder, carefully cutting them before picking the stitches out. Each stitch had been tied separately so that Hermione could transform into her animagus form if she'd no other choice. Penny hadn't been happy about that, but had understood why Hermione had insisted. It was uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt to have the stitches removed with how gentle he was.

"How long until your ribs heal?" he asked absently.

"Another week and they should be healed completely." Every time Kakashi had moved her into a different place in the bed he'd been careful of her ribs. It might not have seemed like it, given the times he'd flipped them so that Hermione was next to the wall, but Kakashi had been very careful to ensure that her ribs weren't jostled. "I finished my potions regimen a couple days ago-except for the pain killers and calcium supplements. I'm on those for two more days."

She fought the urge to blush as he removed the stitches between her breasts.

"Have you thought about children?" he asked absently.

Hermione fought the urge to hit Kakashi with a stinging hex. The bastard had waited until she was in a vulnerable position to ask that. She still didn't know if he wanted children. Hermione was honestly afraid that if she said she did, he might say that he didn't just to be contrary. Hermione might be the cat animagus, but Kakashi was the one who acted like a cat half the time with those mind games he played.

"I have. I just haven't made a decision yet," she hedged.

"You want a baby," he commented, removing the last stitch, from just bellow her left breast, his finger running along the scar.

Hermione's eyes narrowed. She said nothing as he put what needed to be sterilized next to the sink and threw away the pieces of the sutures which had been removed. She sat up as Kakashi came back over to retrieve his book.

"I have returned, my youthful companions," announced a far too familiar voice.

She looked up just in time to see Maito Gai walk into the apartment, the door bouncing off the wall. With a growl she willed a stinging hex in his direction only to be flabbergasted when her magic actually responded.

Gai neatly side stepped the hex, letting it bounce off the wall. He blinked at them before giving them what might be considered a knowing grin. Hermione blinked as some strange sunset and sandy beach formed behind him.

"My apologies for interrupting your glorious expression of love." He gave them a thumbs up and winked theatrically at Kakashi. "I shall return in the morning."

"Stop right there," ordered Hermione as she frantically buttoned up her shirt. She settled in leaving the top three buttons undone before getting to her feet, doing her best to ignore how visible her hardened nipples likely were through the shirt. Kakashi's deep voice and soft touch shouldn't have been that arousing. "I want to talk to you."

Her magic slammed the door closed and locked it even as Kakashi edged sideways, so that he'd be out of the line of fire.

"Wouldn't you rather return to what you were doing with Kakashi?"

"The mood is ruined," she snapped. This should take care of Kakashi's little confrontation. "In fact, I feel a headache coming on. I think it might last all month long."

* * *

Her lecture-well, rant really-about how drunk people shouldn't speak of things like marriage had gone relatively well. And using Gai for target practice for her wandless magic had been rather stress relieving. Although she didn't actually manage to hit the man with any of her hexes or jinxes. At least Bisuke had nipped Gai's ankle for her.

It was Kakashi's day off and thankfully for Hermione's sanity, he'd decided to take her out of the apartment. Hermione had been willing to stay in the apartment, but she was starting to go stir crazy in such a small space. It had reminded her almost uncomfortably of her stay at number twelve Grimauld Place. The duo had had lunch with some of Kakashi's friends; a kunoichi named Uzuki Yugao, that boy Tenzou, and Namiashi Raido before heading out to a training field.

Kakashi had practiced some sort of lightning spell with wolves made of electricity while Hermione practiced controlling fire wandlessly. Kakashi gave Hermione the occasional suggestion, but was content to let her manipulate the element as she would. She moved on to basic transfiguration using rocks after that before borrowing Kakashi's Icha Icha-it was the fourth volume-and leaning against a tree to read with Bisuke leaning against her side lazily. They took a break a couple hours in for a picnic supper Hermione had made before going back to their tasks.

When the sun began to set, Hermione returned the book and sat down a couple yards from Kakashi. She absently created a ball of fire the size of her hand and began to play with it. The fire licked her hands and twirled around her fingers as though it were not potentially deadly. She gathered a bit of water-it was far more difficult than fire-and then made it circle her hands and then join the fire in a dance.

Through long practice she showed no reaction when she felt a chakra signature approach. Tenzou, from the feel of it. Hermione tried to memorize the magical-or chakra, as the case may be-signature of everybody she came into contact with. It was easier at Hogwarts, as there was only two hundred and twenty seven students, but she was familiar with the signatures of a good number of Konoha's shinobi. She added an extra bit of zing to her fire and water, to impress the man.

Tenzou landed in the clearing, dressed in an ANBU uniform complete with a porcelain cat mask. He spared a glance for Hermione, who let the water disperse and the fire go out. This was too serious for games.

"The Hokage has summoned you, Hatake-san," he explained.

"May I ask what's going on? Or if I should expect my husband back anytime soon?" Her questions were bold, but it wasn't as if they would answer if they didn't want to.

Tenzou paused for a moment as if considering whether or not to speak before saying, "The Uchiha Clan is dead. It is believed Uchiha Itachi has killed them. As for your second question, I do not know."

Kakashi summoned a pale brown and white dog before handing Hermione his wallet and saying, "This should hold you over until I return. Bisuke, take Hermione-chan back to the apartment and guard her. Urushi, help Bisuke. Hermione, turn the wards as high as they go and keep them that way until either I or Gai arrive."

"I-be careful. As careful as you can be."

* * *

Ending Notes: So we finally reach the Uchiha Massacre. I'd been planning it this way for a couple chapters. Question; was Kakashi's POV in character or not? And should I do another scene in his POV or not?


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes: Alright, I know it's been forever since I last updated. I really can't explain beyond that I was uninspired after jury duty. For those of you who are wondering, serving on a Grand Jury is mentally and emotionally draining.

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

Hermione let out a sigh as she looked at the group of letters. They'd arrived within several hours of each other and Hermione still hadn't managed to convince herself to open them. From what she'd seen, it took roughly six to seven days for Hedwig to deliver a message from England to Konoha and vice versa. That it had taken seventeen days for these letters to arrive meant that the people who'd sent them had taken at least three days to think about what to write.

She wouldn't have been so jumpy, but it had been eight and a half days since Tenzou had retrieved Kakashi. Gai had come by several hours after Kakashi had left and explained that Kakashi and his team had been sent to hunt down Itachi. Hermione was more worried about Kakashi than she was willing to admit. No matter how competent he and his team were, they were hunting down a boy who'd single handedly killed over two hundred people without it being discovered until after the fact.

Since then Gai had checked on her every other day, but he'd been too busy to hang around for long. Hermione had run into Anko once, but the woman had looked so put upon that she hadn't had the heart to delay her for long. She'd visited Natsumi twice, but had spent more time helping the woman wrangle her children than anything else. Most of Hermione's time was spent in the apartment safely behind the wards with only Crookshanks, Bisuke, and Urushi for company.

Hermione had filled her days with knitting and playing her instruments to ward off nervous energy while potions brewed on the stove. She'd finally finished all the potions two days prior and had found herself debating whether or not to make more before she'd decided against doing so.

When she could stand it no longer, she moved the furniture out of the way so she could practice wandless magic. It would have been easier to use a training field, as then she wouldn't have to worry about the effects of her spells too much, but the living room was passable. Hermione had gone through her repertoire of spells, practicing until she could do the first three year levels of spells wandlessly, and silently and motionlessly with her wand. She'd also been sure to practice the spells Harry had had everybody practice during the DA meetings as well. Hermione had found it easier to make a patronus wandlessly than silently and motionlessly with a wand, contrary to what she'd expected with her experience. Gai had taken an entire day, three days prior and taught Hermione how to apparate, as he'd considered it an essentially survival skill, particularly for a civilian, before teaching her both the spell and the rune array for portkeys.

Hermione hadn't spent much time out in the village, but it was obvious that it was in an uproar. She could feel the nervousness and the fear, like an oppressive veil each time she went out. There were at least double the normal amount of shinobi out and about at any given time. But the worst was the whispers she'd heard in the market place about Uchiha Sasuke while she was shopping. They spoke of the poor boy like wizards in England spoke of Harry Potter. It was just disturbing.

Hesitantly, Hermione opened the letter from Professor McGonagall first. Although Hermione knew that there were no rules which penalized married students and that she could not be expelled, it was still nerve wracking. Nonetheless, Hermione knew that this would be the easiest of letters to read. Considering how long it had taken Harry-and apparently Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley-to write, they might well have been informed.

* * *

_Mrs. Hatake,_

_Congratulations upon your nuptials, Mrs. Hatake. Please relay my well wishes to your husband. _

_I was greatly surprised to receive your letter informing me of your marriage. I was unaware you were being courted by anyone. _

_As your husband is not a student at Hogwarts, you will receive a private room in Gryffindor Tower. Mr. Hatake may visit you in the castle or the village on Hogsmeade weekends and during Christmas and Easter breaks, although he must check in with me before going to Gryffindor Tower. _

_Sincerely,_

_Prof. Minerva McGonagall_

* * *

Hermione bit her lip nervously. McGonagall's letter was too stiff and far too formal. Either she was angry, or she was stunned. Or maybe just disappointed. She let out a sigh. It was likely as good as she could have hoped for.

For a moment, Hermione's hand hovered over Penny's letter before she changed her mind, opening Harry's instead. Urushi whined, pressing closer to her side.

"Why're you scared?" asked the dog.

"I-I'm worried about what my friends and family think of me. Eloping with a man I barely know is something Harry would do, not me."

She blinked, feeling relieved when she read the first page of the letter. It was about Harry, Ron, and Ginny's trip to Diagon Alley and how Harry thought that Draco had gotten the dark mark and was up to something and how grateful Harry was for the gift she'd sent. Except it cut off in mid sentence on the back side of the paper. The next sheet was more what she was expecting.

* * *

_You got married? Why would you do something like that? Did that man force you to marry him? If he did, I'll kill him for you..._

* * *

She breathed a sigh of relief_._ The letter went on in that vein for over a page and a half. At least Harry was still treating her as a friend. Hermione didn't know what she would have done if he'd reacted as he had during the Firebolt incident. It seemed that Professor McGonagall had inquired during an Order meeting if any of them knew who Hatake Kakashi was, which had led to everybody finding out.

Ginny's letter was next. She found herself resisting the urge to bang her head against a wall. All Ginny wanted to know about was what Kakashi looked like and how he was in bed. Although did add a post script offering to make her poison-or a love potion-if she wanted and suggested methods of training her husband. She knew there was a reason why she liked that girl so much.

Mrs. Weasley's letter was simply grating. There was all that concern she was used to from the woman, along with the prying, and the attempt at babying Hermione. The woman had all but suggested that Kakashi was a pedophile and taking advantage of her naïve, caring nature. There was a veiled offer of rescue by the Order, which Hermione thought would fail spectacularly. The Order could count its combat capable members on one hand and of them, only Mad-Eye or Shacklebolt might-and that was a big might-stand a chance against her husband. Hermione resisted the urge to laugh or set the letter on fire. She'd forgotten how much she disliked the way Mrs. Wealey treated her.

Next was the letter from Ron. There was an offer to kill Kakashi for her, as was apparently the custom, combined with rather petulant whining. It was a little disconcerting. While Ron was attractive, she'd only thought of him that way once, when he'd thrown that temper tantrum at the Yule Ball. Even then, she hadn't been able to convince herself that she liked him in that way.

Finally she forced herself to pick up Penny's letter. Hermione didn't bother to lie to herself. She wasn't sure what she'd do if the only family she had left rejected her as well.

* * *

_Hermione,_

_What on Earth were you thinking? Are you alright? Did he hurt you? He didn't make you do anything you didn't want to, did he? _

_I can do math. I know you married the day after and I know you like to get drunk on the anniversary of that. Was marrying him his idea or your idea? Was he drunk as well? I know you don't like talking about it, but please answer me. _

_I worry so much when you do crazy things like this. I know you can take care of yourself and you're more than capable of dealing with this Kakashi person if you want to, but you're my baby cousin and I want to protect you._

_I know you don't go looking for trouble. Most of the time, anyway. But please try to be careful. This situation is far different from the trouble you normally get yourself into. He can hurt you in ways that the people you usually deal with can't._

_I want to meet this man before you go back to him from Hogwarts. Whether that's in a couple weeks or next summer, I don't care…_

* * *

The letter rambled for several more paragraphs, but Hermione could barely bring herself to care. She was so relieved. Penny had treated her the same as always.

Much relieved, Hermione took her time writing out her replies. It took her a couple hours, but she managed to send the letters off with various owls before nightfall.

"Do you think Kakashi-kun is alright?" she asked, cuddling with the dogs and Crookshanks in bed that evening.

"Oh yeah. He's fine," said Bisuke.

Urushi gave a playful growl. "No upstart puppy's gonna hurt Kakashi."

* * *

"Hey, do you have the time to get some dango?" asked Hermione.

"Sure, Hermione-san," said Anko. The woman might like to be outrageous and scandalize civilians and shinobi alike, but she didn't use the act all that much with her.

The duo headed to the same dango stand as the last time. They ordered their treats and a cup of tea each before settling in. Urushi and Bisuke were trailing along beside her. Neither had been happy with her getting out from under the protection of the apartment's wards, but understood her need to get out and do something.

"So how's married life?"

Hermione shrugged. "Kakashi-kun and I get along well enough, I guess. He's on a mission right now." She bit her lip, then admitted, "I'm worried."

Anko nodded. "How long he been gone?"

"Eleven days. Since the night of the massacre. He and his team were sent out to… I guess you can figure out what." She shook her head. "Some ANBU in a Neko mask came to get him because the Hokage had summoned him. He summoned a second dog to protect me and I haven't seen him since."

"You been alone save the dogs since?"

She nodded. "Luna was supposed to come to the village in two days, but her father ordered her to stay in the Daimyo's castle. Said it was safer. He offered to hire some shinobi to escort me to the castle but I… I want to wait it out here as long as possible. I'm leaving for school in nine days anyway."

"So I heard there were some owls carrying letters…"

Hermione let out a little laugh, understanding that Anko was changing the subject. "My friends and my cousin wrote to me about my recent marriage. It seems I've caused quite the uproar."

"Do tell."

"Well, it is their collective opinion that Kakashi-kun must have coerced me into marriage during a moment of weakness." She shook her head, ignoring the look on Anko's face. "I'm considering directing their ire in Gai-san's direction. That jackass orchestrated my marriage to Kakashi-kun." She shrugged. "Although he did let me use him for target practice and listened to my entire rant without complaint."

Anko laughed. "No wonder Kakashi-kun went along with the marriage."

"Yeah."

"So other than that…"

"Let's see… Harry and Ron offered to kill Kakashi-kun for me. Although I could have done without figuring out that Ron likes me… you know, really likes me. Ginny offered to make me poison to use on Kakashi-kun-or a love potion if I want my husband to fall madly in love with me. The twins-two of Ginny's brothers-didn't write, but according to Ginny, they offered to prank him until he wished for death. Ah, and Weasley-san-Ron and Ginny's mother-has decided that I'm some poor, naïve little girl and that my husband is taking advantage of me. She implied that people would be ready and willing to rescue me from that terrible fiend's clutches. My cousin Penny said that she knows that if I really wanted to, I could off my husband myself, but was willing to do the deed for me if I didn't have the stomach to. And then she posed the question of if I searched for people who get into the strangest situations to spend time with because I enjoyed the danger or if it was entirely accidental or if I was the one with… unusual luck and they were caught in my web of iniquity."

Her companion let out a surprised snort of laughter and then fell into helpless giggles. When she calmed, she asked, "How serious were they?"

"Probably the only ones who would go through with their threats were Ginny, her mother Weasley-san, and Penny. Harry… he's a scholar like I am. He killed someone in self defense a couple years back, but he's in such denial. It's like he's blocked it out. And Ron's just a little boy pretending to be a man." She shook her head. "It's… I've found that women are far more ruthless than men. Back home at least."

"I have to head to work in a couple minutes."

Hermione let out a sigh and nodded. "Please feel free to stop by. Kakashi-kun has me practically under house arrest. I know he's just worried, but…"

Anko nodded. "Next time I have a couple hours."

"Thanks. Be careful."

"I will. Let the dogs do their job."

* * *

Hermione woke with a start. It took her a moment to realize that somebody was knocking on the door. She glanced at the dogs. Since they weren't growling, she grabbed the dressing gown she used at school and tied it on over her nightgown before leaving the bedroom and walking over to the front door. The dogs paced along beside her.

She blinked, realizing that she recognized the chakra signature, although she wasn't sure who it was. It was male and moderately powerful, with a tinge of earth to it. Oh, it must be Kakashi's friend, Raidou.

She opened the door, allowing the dogs to stand between her and the open doorway. "May I help you, Namiashi-san?"

And then she took in his appearance. He was in an ANBU uniform with a chinchilla mask. Chinchilla? Eh, who was she to judge.

"How?" Although Raidou's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, he didn't withdraw it from its sheath. Bisuke and Urushi's growling might have had something to do with that.

"My apologies. I'm what Gai-san calls a chakra sensor. I felt your chakra signature. I usually remember not to call people by name when they're wearing a mask." She blushed a bit. "I'm not at my best when I've just woken up."

He gave a quick nod and let go of the hilt. "Kakashi-taichou's in the hospital."

Hermione didn't realize her knees had given out until Raidou gripped her elbow, keeping her upright. "I-how bad? How bad is it?"

"Chakra exhaustion, three broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, second degree burns along his arm, pierced lung."

"Can't the iryo-nin treat that?" she said. Madam Pomfrey could have healed all of that in a snap. Even as inexperienced as Hermione was, she could deal with all but the pierced lung and she was only a half trained field medic.

"No. They're iryo-nin, not miracle wor-"

"Come in here right this second," she ordered, even as she reviewed what potions and reference materials she had with her and what she'd need.

"What are you doing?" he asked even as he did as she said.

Once she closed the door, she explained, "I can heal the burns and his bones if they're set. If I have to, I might be able to set his bones. I'd rather somebody more experienced dealt with his lung, but if I need to, I might be able to take care of it as well."

"Healing that many bones-"

"Clan techniques. Ask Gai-san if you don't believe I can do it."

She went into the bedroom and pulled out her text book. She read quickly to confirm what she needed and then went to gather the appropriate potions. Hermione put the potions into a cardboard box along with the text before sealing them up. She went into the bathroom and tossed on a chemise, skirt, and bodice laced up the front without bothering with a bra. Once the scroll was tucked into the bodice, she gave her hair a quick comb and braided it before she walked back out into the living room.

"I have everything."

They left the apartment, Hermione closing and locking the door. "Get on."

Somewhat hesitantly, Hermione scrambled onto Raidou's back piggyback style and allowed him to carry her. They moved at speeds similar to what a car could reach, Raidou climbing up to the roof and the hopping from building to building to the hospital. Raidou let her down and led her through the busy hospital.

"Hermione-"

"Hey Gai. Do you know any competent healers around here?" she asked, pulling out her scroll. "Really. Unable to heal a couple broken ribs or a few burns."

"I'd forgotten that you have training as a field medic," he said. Gai turned to Yugao who was curled up in a seat. "Hermione-chan can treat most of Kakashi's injuries."

"I just need somebody to make sure his shoulder is popped back in and his bones are set properly so I can heal them and who can take care of his lung. I'd rather have somebody more experienced take care of those injuries."

Yugao looked at Gai, who nodded, before turning back to Hermione. "Alright. How?"

"Clan techniques mostly. Unfortunately most of the ijutsu I know uses our kekkei genkai and the medicines I know are made for people with the same kekkei genkai. I don't think they'd work for people without it. We… we rarely treat somebody who isn't a member of one of the Dragon Clans."

Yugao nodded. "This way."

She pulled Hermione out of the waiting room and down two hallways. A nurse looked like she wanted to stop them before Yugao made a couple fierce hand motions.

A moment later they entered a private room. Hermione paused, taking in the sight of Kakashi. He was bandaged and hooked up to several machines. Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a diagnosis spell before nodding.

"Just double checking what Chinchilla-san told me," she explained. Hermione unsealed the box and put it on a chair. "Two of the ribs are positioned wrong. If you could put them back into place I can heal them."

Yugao nodded and went to work. Once the ribs were set, Hermione healed them before reinforcing the healing on his shoulder. Hermione washed her hands and then unbandanged the burn. She fought the urge to wince at the sight of the burns. Hermione carefully removed the salve the iryo-nin had put on it and applied the cream she'd made. It both treated the burn and dulled the pain, thankfully. Once the cream was on, she carefully rewrapped the arm and then washed her hands again.

"Alright, the dressing will need to be changed every four hours. It should be healed in ten to sixteen hours depending upon how deep the burn is in his tissue. He shouldn't use the arm for anything strenuous for a further two to three hours after that."

"Step back. I'm going to finish healing his lung."

Hermione nodded and grabbed the chart so she could check what treatment and medications Kakashi had already been given as she didn't want him to have an adverse reaction because of drug interaction. She used a piece of mostly clean paper from the chart to work out dosages for the medications she intended to use in English.

When Yugao was done, Hermione said, "We'll need to take him off the morphine and the antibiotic immediately and I'll have to purge both from his system before I can administer any medications. The rest of it should be fine."

Yugao gave her a long, searching look before nodding. She disconnected a couple of the bags and then stepped back.

Hermione stood again and pulled her wand back out. She closed her eyes for a moment and then began the complicated spell. She vanished the morphine and antibiotic from his system and then began to measure out potions using measuring spoons she'd bought specifically for this purpose two weeks prior.

"What are you giving him?"

"A light sedative and a mild pain killer to make sure he doesn't wake up early and try to escape the hospital. This treats chakra exhaustion. I wouldn't recommend it for anybody without our kekkei genkai. One of the side effects of chakra exhaustion for us is hypoglycemia or extreme low blood sugar and having this much sugar put into the body of somebody who doesn't need it could be catastrophic. This is an antibiotic that won't interfere with the medications he's on. Finally a nutritional supplement that should give him back what his body uses while it heals."

"What sort of recovery time is he looking at?"

"He'll need a day and a half to recover his chakra completely, but his injuries should be completely healed within twenty hours. I'd say give him eighteen hours before letting him out of the hospital and two days before allowing him to have some sort of desk duty for… four to six days. Then let him out in the field again."

Yugao gave a nod in reply. "I don't want to leave you alone-the other doctors and nurses might try to remove you, but I need to inform the team."

"I can send a message to Gai-san," she offered.

Yugao told her what to say and Hermione created a messenger patronus. The little otter ran off as Yugao blinked.

"What was that? Some sort of positive intent?"

"Sort of. Same theory as killing intent. It's the best defense against a dementor. That's a type of demon that eats people's souls and feeds on emotions that's native to my country. They guard our prison. Anyway, the only way to drive one off is a concentration of happy emotions. I'm not sure who, but somebody figured out the creature created by the jutsu makes a good messenger as well."

Hermione sealed the medicines away and checked the chair before pulling appropriate levels so that it reclined. Yugao handed her a pillow and she curled up in the chair so she could get some rest. "Please make sure nobody touches his medications and somebody wakes me in two hours."

"Sure."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked into the hospital room, still thinking about what had happened. He'd had to send ANBU after Itachi, had to make sure that it was real in every way that mattered. Not to mention that Itachi had far exceeded the bounds of his mission, not only killing the members of the clan involved with the plot, but also every man, woman, and child save his baby brother. It was unfortunate that Kakashi had been so injured, but at least Itachi had not killed the man.

His eyes ran over the room naturally. Sarutobi took in Uzuki Yugao, who was sleeping in the chair next to the window and Maito Gai, who leaned against a wall. It was when his eyes fell upon the soft feminine figure curled up in the second chair that he paused. There was a large ginger tabby dozing at her side, curled up in the space between her body and the arm rest. The tabby glanced at Sarutobi with too intelligent eyes before yawning and closing its eyes again. Not a summons, but possibly some sort of nin cat. Two of Kakashi's ninken lay upon the ground next to her, implying that the woman had a right to be here with their summoner.

The woman stirred and Sarutobi felt the gentle brush of her chakra, so faint that he'd not have noticed if he were any less skilled. Gai bent down and ran a hand through her hair saying, "Shh, go back to sleep. You're in no danger."

"'kay. Night," she mumbled before curling in on herself and going back to sleep.

"Hokage-sama," said Gai, nodding the ANBU guards.

"How is he?"

"According to Yugao-chan and Hermione-chan, he'll recover completely within a week and have no permanent injuries."

"Ha-maiani?" he said, stumbling slightly over the foreign name.

Gai nodded at the sleeping woman. "Kakashi's wife. They married a little less than two and a half weeks ago."

Sarutobi found himself blinking. There was no reason such news would be brought to his attention, but he was a little shocked he hadn't heard of it.

"He actually married her?" He'd thought Kakashi would be a bachelor for life like Jiraiya. At least he wouldn't have to encourage the man to reproduce.

"Without any prodding he'd never marry. So I arranged it." Gai wasn't bothering with his usual act at all, likely because he didn't want to wake any of the sleeping figures and the seriousness of the situation. "She's a civilian member of one of the Dragon Clans, very skilled with our kekkei genkai, and has training as a civilian field medic. She is a natural chakra sensor and completely self taught. Hermione-chan was brought to the village with her cousin, Lovegood-sama. She's good friends with his daughter."

Gai was probably right. Kakashi would never have put himself out there, would never have found himself a wife unless he'd no other choice in the matter. He didn't like the idea of one of his ANBU captains being married to a foreign woman, but she was related to a fuinjutsu master that was above reproach. And chakra sensors were incredibly rare. If even one child inherited that ability, it would be a boon for the village. At least, he supposed, he could trust Gai to pick somebody who would not be a danger to the village. Both he and his cousin were infallibly loyal to Konoha.

"Who officiated the ceremony?"

"They used one of our people's clan ceremonies, with me as witness. Koharu-sama registered everything."

He gave a short nod. His old teammate had doubtless ensured everything was above board. Sarutobi took the time to look at the woman.

She was young, probably in her mid to late teens. Old enough to safely bear children, but young enough that she was at the beginning of her fertile years. Hermione was pretty, but not stunning. She was tall and big boned and a good sixty pounds too heavy by kunoichi standards although her face was delicate in appearance. By civilian standards she would be considered a little overweight, but not too much so, particularly given her large skeletal structure and relatively hourglass figure with wide hips and a large bust. Hermione's bust might actually be able to compete with Tsunade's, something he hadn't thought possible. Perhaps her ancestors were from the west like those Slavic clans who on rare occasion came this far to trade. They had similar facial structures and body types. She had long delicate fingers well suited to forming hand seals and were calloused in such a way as to suggest she played a stringed instrument regularly. Hermione was pale with a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and her long brown hair was probably naturally curly, given its thickness and frizzy nature.

"I'll visit again when he's awake."

* * *

"You can heal broken bones if the person has a difference kekkei genkai than yours, right? It's only the medicines that don't work well."

Hermione nodded at Yugao. "Yeah. Why?"

"Tenzou-kun was on the mission too. Most of the bones in his hands and his femur were broken."

"Of course. You had to stabilize his leg. You wouldn't have had enough chakra to heal Kakashi-kun completely," said Hermione. A broken femur was easily as life threatening as a pierced lung. The rest of Kakashi's injuries were nothing in comparison. "Urushi, could you stay with Kakashi-kun? I'm going to go help Tenzou-san."

At the dog's affirmative reply, Hermione and Bisuke followed Yugao out of the room and across the hall. "So, you had all those medicines on hand…"

Hermione snorted. "Normally I don't. But I've been setting up a proper set of first aid supplies so that Kakashi-kun and Gai-san have access to what they might need while I'm up in Scotland. I know it's a little more than what most civilians have on hand, but Anko-san told me that the men would escape the hospital given half a chance so I just wanted to be sure they'd have everything they needed."

"Scotland?"

"I have responsibilities to the clan. I'll be back in Konoha next summer. The men knew about it before Kakashi-kun and I married."

"Here he is. Let me double check all the bones are set and you can get to it." Yugao checked the unconscious teen over before nodding and stepping back. As Hermione pulled out her wand and began to heal the bones, she asked, "So where'd you learn all this, anyway?"

"I've been studying under Pomfrey-sensei. She's the _medi-witch_ responsible for the care of the people who attend the school all members of a Dragon Clan in the country go to. She was a field medic on the front lines of the last two big wars and worked for the… I guess I'd compare _hitwizards_ to the military, so worked with the military in between. I swear, she may be completely civilian, but she's the scariest woman you'll ever meet." She withdrew the wand from the boy's thigh and moved on to his bandaged hands. "Anyway, she runs a three year program that trains people to be qualified to take care of most illnesses and injuries. I just finished that. If you take the full five years, which is what I intend, then you're considered a fully trained field medic like Pomfrey-sensei."

After a couple questions, she explained how it worked in the UK, using the same story as she had with Anko. Healing the hands were far more difficult than Tenzou's leg. Simply put, more bones in his hands were broken than not. Whoever had done this had meant to ensure that Tenzou was incapable of using hand seals for months.

"Right, that should do it. Make sure he takes some calcium supplements for the next three weeks at least and have somebody check his range of motion out before letting him train or go into the field again."

"Of course. You head back to your husband. I'll stay here."

"Alright."

Hermione walked back out into the hall and stopped short. "Morning, Anko-san."

"Hermione-san. Is that-"

"Tenzou-san's room. Yugao-san roped me in to help heal him. Kakashi-kun's is that room there. I don't know who else is in the hospital."

"How long you been here?" she asked, falling into step beside Hermione.

"Since Chinchilla-san came to tell me Kakashi-kun was here. I think it was around three in the morning, but I'm not sure." Hermione opened the door to the room only to stop short. "Don't even think about it! Get your ass back in that bed right this instant!"

"Now now, koneko-chan-" Kakashi said from his place half out of a window.

"Don't you kitten me!" she snapped, not even noticing that this was the first time he'd used a pet name for her. "Step away from that window and get back in bed right now!"

"I'll see you-"

"It's too bad," she said, deciding to switch tactics. Lecturing obviously wouldn't work on him.

At least Kakashi's mission had given her a chance to think things over and she'd already made her decision on several important matters. Not that Kakashi knew that yet. She twirled a stray curl that had escaped her braid and arched her back slightly so that her chest was more obvious before licking her lips. He'd probably seen better acts, but this was the best she could do on such short notice.

"What's too bad?" he asked.

"I was feeling so much better, but now it seems that my headache is returning."

"Headache?"

"I've had nothing better to do than read the next two books in the Icha Icha series while you were gone. They've made me so curious. So curious. But if you leave the hospital before you're supposed to, that will only make me worry. And worrying gives me a headache."

"But wouldn't you like to play nurse back home?" he suggested.

"Oh no. I couldn't. Even if I was taking care of you I'd still be so very, very worried."

Next to her, Anko bit her lip to stop herself from laughing even as her shoulders shook. At least somebody was getting a kick out of this. Although she did hope that Anko would eventually let her live this down-she wasn't foolish enough to believe that the woman wouldn't tease her about this at all.

Kakashi pulled his leg back in. "Give us a minute, would you?"

"Sure," said Anko, walking back out of the hospital room and closing the door.

"What, may I ask, have you decided while I was gone?" Kakashi was more serious than she'd ever seen him before. He didn't play as many of his mind games with Hermione like being hours late as he did with others, but he was never this serious either.

"There's no point in living my life unless I'm actually living it," she said. It had taken days of soul searching to come to that conclusion. "I'm not going to go out of my way to try to conceive, but if I were to get pregnant, I wouldn't be upset. You never did say how you felt on the subject of children-or sex for that matter."

"How long do I have to stay in the hospital?"

"Somewhere between nightfall and midnight today."

He sat back down on the bed. "Do you know how Raidou, Yugao, or Tenzou are?"

"Namiashi-san and Yugao-san are both fine. Yugao-san had me heal Tenzou-san's broken bones. It's where I was just now. She's decided to sit with him for a bit."

He nodded, swinging his legs up onto the bed. "You do this?"

"Yugao-san made sure your bones were set and healed your lung. I treated the rest of your injuries. And I need something to call magic, because I can't just keep calling it out kekkei genkai. It'll get repetitive eventually."

"White Chakra. It's what they call it in us Hatakes. Why don't you let Anko-chan back in now."

Hermione's eyes narrowed-Kakashi still hadn't said how he felt about children-but went to do as he'd suggested.

* * *

1) I think that a medic of Tsunade's skills would have been able to fix all of Kakashi's injuries in an instant. Yugao is a field medic and a highly competent kunoichi. She'd been chasing a former ANBU captain with her team for the better part of two weeks and probably a little low on chakra. She had to stabilize both Kakashi and Tenzo and both of them had serious injuries.

2) Hermione's… seduction attempt was a little desperate and immature. However she's sixteen, almost seventeen and she was trying to keep a very injured Kakashi from escaping the hospital.


End file.
